HISTORIC 


RANDALL  PARRISH 


I     LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 


HISTORIC   ILLINOIS 


BY  MR.  PARR1SH. 

WHEN  WILDERNESS  WAS  KING.  A  Tale  of  the  Illinois 
Country.  Illustrated  by  the  Kinneys. 

MY  LADY  OF  THE  NORTH.  The  Love  Story  of  a  Gray- 
Jacket.  Illustrated  by  E.  M.  Ashe. 

A  SWORD  OF  THE  OLD  FRONTIER.  A  Romance  of  the 
Time  of  Pontiac's  Conspiracy.  Illustrated  by  F.  C. 
Yohn. 

BOB   HAMPTON  OF  PLACER.     Illustrated  by  Arthur  I. 

Keller. 

BETH  NORVELL.    A  Tale  of  the  West.    Illustrated. 
Each  $130 

HISTORIC  ILLINOIS.  The  Romance  of  the  Earlier  Days. 
With  Map  and  Fifty  Illustrations.  Price  $2.30  Net. 

THE  GREAT  PLAINS.  The  Romance  of  Western  Amer- 
ican Exploration,  Warfare,  and  Settlement,  1527-1870. 
With  numerous  illustrations.  Price  $1.73  net. 

A.  C.  McCLURG  &  Co.,  CHICAGO 


HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE 
EARLIER  DAYS 


AUTHOR  OF 

44  WHEN  WILDERNESS  WAS  KING,"  "  MY  LADY  OF  THE  NORTH,' 
AND  "  A  SWORD  OF  THE  OLD  FRONTIER  " 


WITH  MAP  AND  F/F7  Y  ILL  USTRA  TIONS 


FOURTH    EDITION 


CHICAGO 

A.   C.   McCLURG  &  CO. 

1914 


COPYRIGHT 

A.  C.  MCCLURG  &  Co. 
1905 

PUBLISHED  Nov.  15,  1905 

THIRD  EDITION, 

JUNK  5,  1907 

FOURTH  EDITION 
FRBY.  80, 1914 


*.  f.  MAU.  MINT1N4  COMPANY,  CHICAGO 


TO  THE 
MEMORY  OF  MY  FATHER 

RUFUS  PARKER  PARRISH 

GENTLEMAN,  PATRIOT, 
AND  PIONEER 


INTRODUCTORY 

THE  intention  of  this  book  is  not  scholastic,  nor  has 
any  special  effort  been  made  along  lines  of  original 
research,  the  single  purpose  being  to  render  Illinois  history 
of  interest  to  the  many  who  seldom  discover  it  to  be  so. 
The  writer  believes  that  historical  occurrences,  properly 
presented,  should  prove  more  enticing  than  even  the  most 
fascinating  fiction,  because  those  men  and  women  thus 
depicted  were  actual  living  entities. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  volume  no  particular  origi- 
nality is  claimed,  other  than  the  mode  of  arrangement 
chosen  for  the  subject-matter,  and  an  earnest  effort  to  give 
vividness  to  the  narrative.  Like  all  compilations,  it  is  the 
production,  not  of  one  mind,  but  of  a  multitude.  Every 
known  writer  on  Illinois  history  has  been  consulted  in  the 
endeavor  to  attain  accuracy,  yet  it  has  not  been  considered 
expedient  to  clog  the  pages  with  continual  notes  of  refer- 
ence. Wherever  the  language,  or  direct  thought,  of  any 
former  writer  has  been  utilized,  the  endeavor  has  been 
made  to  give  full  acknowledgment  in  the  text. 

The  rare  charm  of  European  travel,  as  well  as  of  jour- 
neying in  our  own  Eastern  States,  is  largely  enhanced  by 
the  constantly  recurring  scenes  of  picturesque,  historic 
interest.  Comparatively  few  realize  that  no  State  of  the 
Union  surpasses  Illinois  in  the  romantic  incidents  of  early 
days.  These  are  full  of  color,  action,  and  adventure,  for 
above  these  peaceful  plains  and  woods  once  waved  the  flags 
of  four  contending  nations,  while  men  of  the  white  race 


vu 


viii  INTRODUCTORT 

and  the  red  strove  continually  for  mastery.  Here  came 
priest  and  soldier,  honest  settler  and  fleeing  outlaw,  noble 
and  peasant,  coureur  de  bois,  and  Canadian  voyageur,  each 
bearing  his  part  in  the  great  struggle  of  two  centuries. 
The  continual  conflict  with  savagery,  the  conspiracy  of 
Pontiac,  the  Wars  of  the  Revolution  and  of  1812,  all  had 
their  fields  of  battle  on  Illinois  soil;  and  there  is  scarcely  a 
county  without  its  romantic  legends,  its  interesting  traditions 
of  the  past. 

The  hope  of  impressing  some  few  of  these  happenings 
upon  the  minds  of  the  many  to  whom  historic  narrative 
has  heretofore  proven  dull  and  unprofitable,  has  been  the 
main  purpose  of  author  and  publisher  in  the  volume  here 
presented. 

RANDALL  PARRISH. 
CHICAGO,  Sept.  i,  1905. 


NOTE  OF  ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

THE  following  authorities  have  been  freely  consulted,  and  oc- 
casionally quoted,  in  the  preparation  of  this  work,  to  each  of  whom 
it  is  desired  to  give  full  credit:  "Illinois  Historical  Collections," 
Vol.  I,  and  " Historical  Transactions"  for  1900—1903,  especially 
those  articles  by  Dr.  Snyder,  Mr.  John  F.  Steward,  Mrs.  Matthew 
J.  Scott,  and  Joseph  Wallace;  Spears  and  Clark's  "Mississippi 
Valley";  Dr.  Thwaites's  "How  George  Rogers  Clark  Won  the 
Northwest,"  and  "  France  in  America  " ;  Stevens's  "  Black  Hawk  " ; 
Davidson  and  Stuve's  "  History  of  Illinois";  Moses's  "  History  of 
Illinois  ";  Edwards's,  Blanchard's,  Ford's, and  Reynolds's  Histories  ; 
Reynolds's  "  Story  of  My  Own  Times  " ;  Parkman's  "  La  Salle  and 
the  Discovery  of  the  Great  West  "  ;  Howe's  "  The  Great  West "  ; 
Roosevelt's  "  Winning  of  the  West  " ;  Mason's  "  Chapters  from 
Illinois  History  "  ;  Gould's  "  Fifty  Years  on  the  Mississippi "  ; 
McMaster's  "  Upper  Mississippi  "  ;  Margry's  "Decouvertes "  ; 
Thwaites's  "  Hennepin's  'New  Discovery'";  Thwaites's  "Jesuit 
Relations";  Thwaites's  "The  Great  River";  as  well  as  the 
numerous  and  valuable  county  histories,  which  give  many  interest- 
ing details  otherwise  overlooked  by  the  more  general  writer. 

R.  P. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  FAGO 

I  SOME  MONUMENTS  op  LOST  RACEI       .          .         .                15 

II  OLD  INDIAN  VILLAGES  AND  BATtLE-riELiv.   TRWAL  BOUN- 
DARIES           ........      27 

III  THE  FIRST  EXPLORERS 41 

IV  LA  SALLE  AND  HIS  VOYAGEURS  ii»  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRY     54 
V  THE  FASCINATING  STORY  OF  TONTY     .         .         .               70 

VI  THE  FOOTPRINTS  OF  THE  FRIARS      .          .          .          .          88 

VII  OLD  WATER-WAYS  AND  THEIR  VOYAGEURS         .          .          .102 

VIII  OLD  PRAIRIE  TRAILS  AND  THEIR  TRAVELLERS      .          .        115 

IX  THE  FRENCH  SETTLEMENTS           .          .          .          .         .129 

X  ON  THE  SITE  OF  MARAMECH  ;  A  GREAT  INDIAN  TRAGEDY  144 

XI  THE  SPANISH  INVASION  ;  ILLINOIS  IK  THE  REVOLUTION         .    i  50 

XII  THE  EARLY  LEAD- MINERS  OF  FEVER  RIVER  .          .          .162 

XIII  OLD-TIME  FORTS  AND  THEIR  HISTORIES     .          .          .         174 

XIV  THE  FOOTSTEPS  OF  GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK       .          .          .    191 
XV  PIONEER  LIFE  AND  ADVENTURE  ALONG  THE  ILLINOIS  BORDER, 

1782-1812 207 

XVI  THE  TRAGEDY  AT  FORT  DEARBORN  ....        223 

XVII  ILLINOIS  IN  WAR  OF   1812           .          .         .          .          .   240 

XVIII  THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  BLACK  HAWK  .          .         .          .        254 

XIX  THE    MORMONS   AT   NAUVOO       .          .          .          .          .271 

XX  EARLY  AMERICAN  SETTLEMENTS         ....        287 

XXI  THE  STORY  OF  THE  CAPITAL      .....   303 

XXII  THE  BATTLE  AGAINST  SLAVERY         .         .          .          .        318 

XXIII  THE  CODE  DUELLO  .......  333 

XXIV  SOME  PECULIAR  COLONIES        .         .         ,         .         .        345 
XXV  HUMORS  OF  THE  FRONTIER           .         .         .         .         •  359 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

XXVI  SOME  NOTABLE  BORDER  CHARACTERS         •         .         .  374 

XXVII  THE  OLD -TIME  PREACHERS           .         .         .         .  .388 

XXVIII  BORDER  OUTLAWRY 400 

XXIX  THE  EARLY  STEAMBOAT  DAYS     .         .         .         .  •  4*4 

XXX  THE  COMING  OF  THE  RAILROAD       ....  430 

XXXI  HISTORIC  SPOTS  AS  THEY  APPEAR  TO-DAY     ...  443 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

STARVED  ROCK,  TONTY'S  STRONGHOLD      ....      Frontispiece 

INDIAN  MOUNDS  NEAR  CAHOKIA  ......      24 

ILLINOIS  RIVER  VALLEY  NEAR  PEORIA       .          .          .          .          .  32 

STATUE  OF  MARQUETTE     ........     42 

MEETING  OF  MARQUETTE  AND  JOLIET  WITH  THE  "  ILLINI  "     .          .  48 

DEATH  OF  MARQUETTE      .......          .48 

STATUE  OF  LA  SALLE     ........  58 

LA  SALLE  TAKING  POSSESSION  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI      .          .          .          .68 

BAS-RELIEF  OF  HENRI  DE  TONTY     ......          76 

A  " LONG- ROBE"  OF  THE  WILDERNESS          .          .          .          .          -94 

ROCK  RIVER  FROM  BLACK  HAWK'S  WATCH  TOWER       .         .          .         106 
A  HISTORIC  WATER-WAY,  THE  ILLINOIS  RIVER        .          .         .          .112 

A  SCENE  ON  THE  FRONTIER     .          .          .          .          .          .          .         1 20 

THE  SITE  OF  KASKASKIA     .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .    132 

RUINS  OF  OLD  KASKASKIA        .          .          .          .          .          .          .138 

ON  THE  SITE  OF  MARAMECH        .          .          .          .          .          .          .146 

MONUMENT  ON  THE  SITE  OF  MARAMECH    .          .          .          .          .146 

SITE  OF  FORT  GAGE,  FROM  KASKASKIA  .          .          .          .         .          .186 

PRESENT  ASPECT  OF  THE  EARTHWORKS  OF  OLD  FORT  GAGE    .          .         186 
PORTRAIT  OF  GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK    .          .         .          .          .          .198 

A  TYPICAL  LOG  HOUSE  OF  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRY       .          .          .        212 
TABLET  COMMEMORATING  FORT  DEARBORN    .          .          .          .          .226 

MONUMENT  MARKING  THE  SITE  OF  THE  FORT  DEARBORN  MASSACRE  232 
PRESENT  ASPECT  OF  CAMPBELL'S  ISLAND          .....    248 

ziii 


xiv  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

PORTRAIT  OF  BLACK  HAWK     .......  260 

PORTRAIT  OF  JOSEPH  SMITH          .          .         .          .         .         .  .272 

THE  JAIL  AT  CARTHAGE,  AS  IT  WAS  AND  AS  IT  Is         .         .          .  276 

HOUSE  OCCUPIED  BY  JOSEPH  SMITH  AT  NAUVOO       .          .          .  .278 

HOUSE  OCCUPIED  BY  BRIG  HAM  YOUNG  AT  NAUVOO        .          .          .  278 

THE  TOWN  OF  NAUVOO     .          .          .          .          .          .          .  .282 

ILLINOIS  STATEHOUSE     .          .         .         .          .          .          .         .  314 

FAC-SIMILE  OF  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY  ADVERTISEMENT    .          .  .326 

PORTRAIT  OF  ELIJAH  P.  LOVEJOY     .          .          .          .          .          .  328 

LOVEJOY  MONUMENT,  ALTON      .          .          .         .          .          .  -33° 

RUINS  OF  ICARIAN  BREWERY  AT  NAUVOO            .         .         .         .  352 

COLONY  HOUSE  AT  BISHOP  HILL           .          .         .          .         .  -352 

A  PIONEER  ILLINOIS  PREACHER,  PETER  CARTWRIGHT     .          .          .  394 

OLD  COURT-HOUSE  AT  PEORIA     .          .          .          .          .          .  .408 

RESIDENCE  OF  COLONEL  DAVENPORT,  ON  ROCK  ISLAND,  WHERE  HE 

WAS  MURDERED     ........  408 

Two  FAMILIAR  SCENES  OF  PIONEER  DAYS,  THE  MAIL-COACH  AND  THE 

PRAIRIE-SCHOONER      .          .          .          .          .          .          .  .   432 

A  FAMOUS  HOSTELRY,  THE  METAMORA  HOUSE  .          .          .         .  438 

LAST  RELIC  OF  FORT  CHARTRES  .          .          .          .          .          .  .    444 

PRESENT  ASPECT  OF  THE  SITE  OF  FORT  MASSAC  .  .  .  .  444 

RUINS  OF  RILEY'S  MILL,  NEAR  KASKASKIA     .         .          .          .  .   448 

j*f 

RESIDENCE  OF  PIERRE  MENARD,  NEAR  FORT  GAGE       .     /  .          .  450 

PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  MARSHALL     .          .          .          .          *  /      •  •   452 
RESIDENCE  OF  JOHN  MARSHALL,  SHAWNEETOWN  .          .          .         .454 


HISTORIC   ILLINOIS 


HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

THE    ROMANCE    OF    THE    EARLY    DAYS 


CHAPTER  I 
SOME  MONUMENTS  OF  LOST  RACES 

HE  recorded  history  of  Illinois  began  in  1673  with  the 
JL  canoe  voyage  of  a  Jesuit  missionary  and  a  Canadian 
explorer,  and  their  companions.  Yet  there  is  a  far  earlier 
story,  still  only  partially  disclosed,  which  reaches  back 
into  the  dim,  mysterious  past.  Scattered  widely  from  east 
to  west  and  from  north  to  south  all  over  this  America,  re- 
main relics  of  dead  and  gone  populations,  exhibiting  a  cul- 
ture and  advance  in  civilization  very  difficult  to  associate 
with  the  Indian  as  first  known  to  white  explorers.  To-day, 
archaeologists  and  antiquarians  differ  widely  as  to  the  origin 
of  these  strange  works  of  human  hands,  nor  are  they  even 
agreed  with  regard  to  the  race  of  the  long-vanished  builders. 
The  earliest  Europeans  discovered  here  roving  tribes  of 
savages,  possessing  no  written  languages,  no  fixed  habita- 
tions, no  knowledge,  other  than  merest  traditions,  of  origin 
or  ancestry.  Yet,  scattered  over  hills  and  valleys,  and  be- 
side lakes  and  rivers,  where  these  vagrants  hunted,  were 
discovered  strange  mounds,  fortifications,  altars,  town 
sites,  and  vast  cemeteries,  regarding  which  the  Indians 
possessed  not  so  much  as  a  vague  legend.  Who  these 
people  were,  whose  centre  of  population  was  evidently  the 
Mississippi  valley,  no  living  man  can  say  with  certainty. 
They  have  been  named  Mound-builders,  because  of  those 
monuments  of  earth  which  tell  of  their  previous  existence, 


16  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

but  whether  they  were  but  a  higher  development  of  the  red 
Indian  race,  an  exodus  from  the  semi-civilization  of  Central 
America,  or  an  entirely  different  type  now  totally  vanished, 
remains  to  be  revealed.  Apparently,  so  utterly  have  they 
disappeared  within  the  enshrouding  mist  of  that  record- 
less  past,  their  identity  can  never  be  completely  estab- 
lished. 

From  the  comparatively  few  discoveries  already  made, 
it  seems  highly  probable  that  this  people  were  not  as  greatly 
advanced  in  civilization  as  the  earlier  investigators  imagined. 
This  belief  tends  rather  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were 
more  likely  of  the  red  race,  and  not  so  vastly  different  from 
the  Creeks,  Natchez,  and  other  more  southern  nations  of 
Indians  encountered  first  by  De  Soto  and  later  by  La  Salle. 
Like  these  latter,  they  were  also  worshippers  of  the  sun. 
The  mounds,  and  other  prehistoric  earthworks,  revealed  by 
the  investigators,  were  doubtless  signal  stations,  military 
defences,  tombs  of  the  dead,  remains  of  destroyed  towns,  or 
elevations  erected  for  purposes  of  worship  and  sacrifice. 
The  builders  had  certainly  made  no  very  marked  advance 
toward  higher  civilization;  the  ruins  thus  far  disclosed  be- 
ing far  behind  those  discovered  in  Central  America,  and  but 
a  grade  beyond  others  undoubtedly  of  early  Indian  origin. 
Evidently,  these  people  had  emerged  from  dense  savagery, 
but,  at  the  best,  had  attained  scarcely  higher  than  the  middle 
status  of  barbarism.  Their  religion  was  still  the  grossest 
superstition,  and  cruel  with  sacrifice;  they  possessed  little, 
if  any,  knowledge  of  metals,  never  having  learned  their 
fusibility,  a  discovery  which  is  always  one  of  the  marked 
steps  of  human  advancement.  They  utilized  copper  as  a 
malleable  stone,  beating  it  into  shape  with  harder  substances. 
In  domestic  and  industrial  arts  they  had  attained  to  rather 
a  higher  degree  of  proficiency;  especially  is  this  evidenced 
in  the  making  of  pottery,  and  the  weaving  of  cloth  from 
vegetable  fibres.  Nothing  distinctive  appertaining  to  these 


SOME  MONUMENTS  OF  LOST  R4CES  17 

people  has  survived,  excepting  that  certain  objects,  manu- 
factured from  poles  and  canes,  have  been  found  buried  in 
mounds;  nearly  all  of  their  handiwork  has  long  since  passed 
into  oblivion.  Yet,  little  by  little,  some  important  facts  rel- 
ative to  their  lives  have  been  learned,  —  literally  dug  out 
of  the  earth.  Their  arts  of  subsistence  had  progressed  as 
far  as  the  use  of  salt — which  was  not  true  of  the  first  Indians 
known  to  Europeans  —  and  the  cultivation  of  corn.  This 
would  seem  to  imply  that  they  were  no  longer  entirely  no- 
madic, but  possessed  semi-permanent  settlements.  Their 
only  known  domesticated  animal  was  the  dog,  and  that 
probably  a  tamed  wolf.  The  burdens  and  drudgery  of  do- 
mestic labor  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  women,  the  chief  pursuit 
of  the  males  being  war  and  the  chase.  In  stature,  features, 
and  cranial  development  they  did  not  greatly  differ  from 
the  well-known  Indian  type.  The  hue  of  their  skins  is  not 
known,  and  no  normal  specimen  of  their  hair  has  been  pre- 
served. The  portraits  transmitted  to  us  on  pottery  picture 
features  approximating  those  of  the  Indian,  with  coarse, 
straight  hair. 

The  culture  of  these  Mound-builders  was  undoubtedly 
a  slow  growth  from  lower  savagery,  and  it  is  probable  that 
their  antiquity  is  not  as  great  as  the  earlier  investigators  sup- 
posed. The  commencement  of  mound-building  in  the 
Mississippi  valley  can  hardly  be  dated  farther  back  than  six 
centuries  ago,  nor  did  it  entirely  come  to  an  end  until  after 
the  discovery  of  this  country  by  the  Europeans.  De  Soto, 
very  likely,  on  the  lower  Mississippi,  came  into  direct 
contact  with  the  surviving  remnant  of  this  same  people, 
still  practising  all  the  arts,  customs,  and  superstitions  of 
their  ancestors. 

There  is,  however,  some  considerable  evidence  to  be 
found,  that  a  yet  more  advanced  race  than  even  these  Indian 
builders  of  mounds  once  inhabited  the  great  valley.  The 
copper  mines  of  the  Lake  Superior  region  were  extensively 


18  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

worked  in  an  age  far  antedating  all  Indian  tradition.  At 
the  Illinois  Salines,  fragments  of  pottery  have  been  found 
from  four  to  five  feet  in  diameter,  dug  from  thirty  feet  be- 
neath the  surface.  Accumulating  facts  would  seem  to 
prove  beyond  question  that  this  earliest  people  of  whom  we 
can  gain  any  positive  trace  were  not  of  the  modern  Indian 
mould.  They  were  short  and  stout,  possessing  low  fore- 
heads and  high  cheek-bones,  with  remarkably  large  eyes 
and  broad  chins.  Remains  of  their  art  even  bespeak  a  dif- 
ferent race.  Silver,  iron,  and  copper  implements  have  been 
unearthed,  exhibiting  superior  skill  in  their  construction. 
The  manufacture  of  earthenware  was  one  of  their  most 
advanced  arts;  vessels  made  of  calcareous  breccia  have 
already  been  discovered,  said  to  be  equal  in  quality  to  any 
now  made  in  Italy.  Mirrors,  constructed  of  mica  brought 
from  the  Carolinas,  are  frequent,  some  large  and  even  ele- 
gant in  design. 

Casting  aside  all  theory  as  to  the  nature  and  race  of  these 
differing  peoples,  let  us  note  some  still  existing  evidences  of 
their  former  occupancy  of  the  Illinois  country.  Those 
which  seem  directly  connected  with  the  Mound-builders  are 
quite  numerous  and  important.  In  form,  design,  dimen- 
sions, and  tantalizing  interest,  their  manufactured  products 
are  unsurpassed  elsewhere.  It  is  evident  that  their  favorite 
haunts  in  those  old  days  were  along  the  principal  streams 
and  lakes.  The  shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  the  bluffs  of 
the  Mississippi,  the  Ohio,  Wabash,  Kaskaskia,  and  Sanga- 
mon,  are  even  now  teeming  with  vestiges  of  their  villages, 
altars,  and  graves.  Along  the  valley  of  Rock  River,  ex- 
tending as  far  south  as  Kishwaukee,  in  Winnebago  County, 
there  are  most  curious  earthworks,  apparently  intended  to 
represent  figures  of  men,  birds,  quadrupeds,  reptiles,  with 
others  not  so  clearly  defined.  Some  of  these  were  formed 
on  a  gigantic  scale,  being  more  than  four  hundred  feet  in 
length.  In  the  city  of  Rockford  is  the  famous  "  Turtle 


SOME  MONUMENTS  OF  LOST  RACES  19 

Mound,"  described  as  "a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long  by 
fifty  feet  in  width  behind  its  front  legs;  and  resembles  an 
alligator  with  its  head  cut  off  more  than  it  does  a  turtle." 
No  human  remains  having  been  found  in  any  of  these  up- 
heavals of  earth,  as  thus  far  explored,  it  is  now  believed  they 
represented  tribal  totems,  possibly  signifying  the  extreme 
boundary  of  some  old  race.  The  place  where  the  turtle's 
head,  in  the  Rockford  mound,  should  naturally  be  may 
once,  as  suggested  by  Dr.  Snyder,  have  been  occupied  as  a 
council-house  or  an  altar.  Such  emblematic  mounds  as 
these  are  to  be  found  only  in  Wisconsin,  and  along  the  upper 
Rock  River  in  Illinois,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  in 
Ohio,  and  two  in  Georgia. 

Near  Mendon,  in  Adams  County,  Wisconsin,  is  a  most 
peculiar  mound  of  this  character,  worthy  of  mention  here, 
it  being  in  the  form  of  a  gigantic  serpent,  or  rather  a  series 
of  small  mounds  so  connected  as  to  suggest  this  figure.  In 
Illinois,  from  Peoria  down  the  banks  of  the  Illinois  River, 
and  thence  farther  down  the  eastern  shore  of  the  broader 
Mississippi,  lies  a  region  unsurpassed  anywhere  in  antiquarian 
interest.  Here  these  vanished  peoples  evidently  dwelt  in 
vast  numbers  during  many  years,  carried  on  their  varied  in- 
dustries, and  interred  their  dead.  Throughout  its  entire 
extent  this  district  is  fairly  strewn  with  relics  of  that  dim,  for- 
gotten past,  and  doubtless  contains,  as  yet  locked  securely  in 
its  earthen  heart,  evidences  of  many  different  races  occupy- 
ing it  through  indefinite  periods  of  time.  It  will  prove  a  rich 
treasure-house  for  the  patient,  scientific  investigator.  At 
some  far-away  date  —  how  long  ago  no  man  can  tell — a  col- 
ony of  the  "stone-grave  people,"  probably  journeying  from 
the  valley  of  the  Cumberland,  came  into  Illinois  and  settled 
near  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers.  From 
this  point  they  gradually  spread  northward  until  they  reached 
the  present  county  of  Monroe,  where  they  evidently  made  an 
extended  residence,  but  finally  crossed  the  Mississippi  and 


20  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

settled  in  Eastern  Missouri.  They  left  behind  them  a  plain 
and  unmistakable  trail  by  their  peculiar  manner  of  burying 
their  dead.  This  was  in  stone  cists,  or  graves  lined  and 
covered  with  thin  rough  flagstones.  Usually  the  bodies  are 
found  resting  in  their  last  sleep  alone,  but  occasionally  sev- 
eral were  buried  together,  all  enclosed  within  a  mound  of 
earth.  Such  graves  have  been  discovered  as  far  north  as 
the  Sangamon  River,  but  are  most  numerous  throughout  the 
extreme  southern  portion  of  the  State.  In  the  main,  this 
peculiar  form  of  sepulchre  is  identical  with  that  discovered 
in  the  ancient  cemetery  near  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  this 
tribe,  emigrating  to  Illinois  in  that  far-away  age,  was  un- 
doubtedly a  branch  of  the  same  ancient  stock.  Plates  of  thin, 
hammered  copper,  with  strangely  masked  human  figures 
impressed  upon  them,  have  been  found  in  these  Southern 
Illinois  graves,  greatly  resembling  similar  discoveries  in  the 
famous  Etowah  mound  of  Georgia.  So  exactly  do  these  re- 
semble the  early  art  of  Central  America,  and  that  of  the  Aztec 
dynasty  in  Mexico,  as  to  make  it  probable  these  "  stone-grave 
people  "  were  at  least  in  direct  communication  with  that 
ancient  semi-civilization  far  to  the  southward.  An  im- 
pressed copper  plate,  bearing  the  well-executed  design  of  an 
eagle,  was  discovered  in  a  mound  near  Peoria,  far  in  artistic 
advance  of  the  best  efforts  of  the  Indian  mound-builders. 

A  singular  monument  of  this  latter  race  is  found  in  the 
lead  region,  situated  at  the  summit  of  a  ridge,  near  the  east 
bank  of  Sinsinawa  Creek.  It  has  the  appearance  of  a  huge 
animal,  the  head,  ears,  nose,  legs,  and  tail,  as  well  as  the 
general  outlines,  being  as  perfectly  conceived  as  if  made  by 
men  versed  in  modern  art.  The  ridge  on -which  it  has  been 
upbuilt  tops  an  open  prairie,  and  stands  three  hundred  feet 
wide,  one  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  rounded  off  at  the  top 
by  a  thick  deposit  of  clay.  Centrally,  along  the  line  of  the 
summit,  is  an  embankment,  three  feet  high,  forming  the  out- 
line of  a  quadruped  measuring  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  from 


SOME  MONUMENTS  OF  LOST  RACES          21 

tip  of  the  nose  to  end  of  the  tail,  and  having,  at  the  centre, 
a  width  of  body  of  eighteen  feet.  The  head  was  thirty-five 
feet  long,  the  ears  ten,  legs  sixty,  and  tail  seventy-five.  The 
curvature  of  the  limbs  was  natural  to  an  animal  lying  upon 
its  side.  In  general,  the  figure  resembles  the  now  extinct 
quadruped  known  to  science  as  the  megatherium.  Many 
scientists  believe  this  animal  actually  lived  in  and  roamed  over 
the  Illinois  plains  when  these  ancient  Mound-builders  first 
entered  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  that  this  outline 
was  later  drawn  from  memory.  As  a  curious  coincidence, 
it  may  be  stated  that  bones  of  some  similar  gigantic  creatures 
have  been  exhumed  on  this  same  stream,  not  more  than 
three  miles  distant. 

In  the  upper  portion  of  the  American  Bottom,  nearly  op- 
posite the  city  of  St.  Louis,  and  some  fifty  miles  above  the 
stone-grave  cemeteries  of  Monroe  County,  was  the  settle- 
ment of  yet  another  distinct  branch  of  pre-Columbian  people. 
These  are  known  to  moderns  as  the  "Temple"  Mound- 
builders.  Their  chief  work  in  the  Illinois  country  is  the 
famous  Cahokia  mound,  probably  the  largest  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  situated  six  miles  and  a  half  northeast  of  St. 
Louis,  is  ninety-seven  feet  in  height,  with  a  base  seven  hun- 
dred feet  in  length  by  five  hundred  feet  in  width,  covering 
more  than  six  acres,  and  comprising  in  its  solid  contents 
1,076,000  cubic  yards  of  earth,  the  greater  portion  of  which 
was  taken  from  the  bluffs  three  miles  distant.  This  gigantic 
monument  of  a  vanished  race  is  commonly  known  as  the 
"  Monks'  Mound,"  from  the  monks  of  La  Trappe  having 
settled  on  and  about  it.  In  shape  it  is  an  irregular  oblong, 
extending  north  and  south,  with  its  shorter  sides  east  and 
west.  Its  top  contains  about  three  and  a  fourth  acres, 
while  nearly  half-way  down  the  sides  is  a  terrace,  extending 
the  entire  width  of  the  mound,  and  sufficiently  broad  to 
afford  sites  for  several  spacious  buildings.  The  present 
irregularity  in  outline  is  doubtless  due  to  the  washing  of 


22  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

heavy  rains,  thus  changing  materially  the  original  design.  A 
Mr.  Hill,  who  once  lived  upon  it,  while  making  excavation 
near  the  northwest  extremity  uncovered  human  bones  and 
white  pottery  in  considerable  quantities.  The  bones, 
which  instantly  crumbled  to  dust  on  exposure  to  the  air,  ap- 
peared larger  than  ordinary,  while  the  teeth  were  double  in 
front  as  well  as  behind. 

Nor  does  this  huge  mound  stand  alone.  It  is  seemingly 
the  king  of  many  others  of  similar  construction  but  less 
magnitude,  and  the  entire  section  must  at  one  time  have  been 
densely  populated,  if  merely  by  the  workmen  employed  on 
this  gigantic  task  of  mound-building.  Close  at  hand,  sixty- 
one  smaller  mounds  have  been  counted,  ranging  in  size  from 
fifty  to  four  hundred  feet  in  diameter,  and  from  fifteen  to 
sixty  feet  in  height.  Wherever  one  journeys  in  this  region, 
such  mounds  appear.  Fifteen  miles  east  of  this  spot,  on 
the  border  of  a  high  open  prairie  in  St.  Clair  County, 
rises  a  most  beautiful  and  symmetrical  mound,  known  lo- 
cally as  the  "Emerald  Mound."  It  is  a  truncated  pyramid 
with  square  base,  each  side  two  hundred  and  twenty-five 
feet  in  length,  forty  feet  in  elevation,  while  its  level  top,  ex- 
actly corresponding  in  form  with  its  base,  is  one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  square.  Its  lines  and  angles  have  been  well 
preserved,  and  are  yet  sharply  defined  and  regular.  Only  a 
few  yards  distant,  to  the  northeast,  is  a  smaller  circular 
mound,  having  a  flat  top,  while  eight  hundred  feet  from  its 
west  angle  is  a  long  ridge,  undoubtedly  of  artificial  con- 
struction, and  possibly  sepulchral. 

Near  the  base  of  the  Emerald  Mound  there  have  been 
found  sixteen  large  flint  spades,  polished  by  long  use.  Near 
the  present  business  centre  of  East  St.  Louis,  a  number  of 
these  were  also  unearthed,  together  with  several  flint  hoes, 
most  neatly  finished.  These,  with  other  relics  dug  from 
the  earth,  such  as  artistic  pottery,  fine  polished  stone  imple- 
ments, shell  beads,  tortoise  shells,  parts  of  the  lower  jaws  of 


SOME  MONUMENTS  OF  LOST  RACES  23 

deer  with  incisor  teeth  intact,  and  some  objects  exquisitely 
plated  with  thin  sheets  of  copper,  attest  the  advance  in  cul- 
ture of  these  Cahokia  Mound-builders,  as  well  as  their  indus- 
trial progress.  In  their  system  of  earthworks  there  is  a 
marked  similarity  to  those. of  Eastern  Arkansas,  Mississippi, 
and  Georgia,  and  in  all  probability  they  were  a  branch  of 
the  same  people.  Where,  and  how,  they  disposed  of  their 
dead  has  not  yet  been  ascertained. 

The  entire  valley  of  the  Illinois  River  from  Starved  Rock 
to  the  Mississippi  was,  unknown  ages  ago,  the  home  of  a 
still  different  race  from  any  yet  enumerated.  Their  style  of 
mound-building  and  their  method  of  disposing  of  their  dead 
connect  them  plainly  with  the  well-known  Mound-builders 
of  the  East.  Here  are  to  be  found  numerous  examples  of 
the  "altar"  mounds,  usually  elevated  above  the  low  alluvial 
bottom  land  bordering  the  stream.  Here  are  also  uncov- 
ered vast  quantities  of  "platform"  pipes,  together  with 
finely  wrought  implements  of  war  and  chase,  with  orna- 
ments of  copper.  In  this  same  neighborhood  have  been 
unearthed  a  vast  number  of  relics,  evidently  propitiatory 
offerings  to  some  deity.  Dr.  J.  F.  Snyder,  whose  valuable 
contributions  to  the  State  Historical  Society  have  yielded  me 
much  data,  describes  the  discovery  of  immense  deposits  of 
dark-colored,  or  black,  flint  disks,  from  three  to  eight  inches 
in  diameter,  under  conditions  leaving  no  doubt  as  to  their 
sacrificial  intent.  Buried  in  the  river  bank  at  Beardstown 
he  found  fifteen  hundred  well-finished  disks  of  black  horn- 
stone  closely  laid  together,  which  were  uncovered  a  few  feet 
below  the  surface.  A  deposit  of  thirty-five  hundred  similar 
flints  was  found  four  miles  above,  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  river.  Two  very  large  mounds  standing  side  by  side,  in 
Brown  County,  were  opened.  One  produced  6,199  °f  tnese 
oval  disks,  and  the  other  5,316  complete  lance-shaped  instru- 
ments from  three  to  eight  inches  in  length.  A  noteworthy 
point  regarding  this  find  is,  such  black  flint  is  nowhere 


24  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

discovered  in  situ  in  Illinois,  but  occurs  in  Southeastern 
Indiana  and  some  portions  of  Kentucky.  These  thousands 
of  buried  flints  must  have  been  transported,  either  overland 
or  by  means  of  water-ways,  to  their  present  burial-spots 
with  immense  toil  and  sacrifice. 

Every  evidence  is  present  that  the  Mound-builders  main- 
tained a  very  widely  extended  system  of  barter  with  distant 
races.  "  In  these  mounds  along  the  Illinois,"  writes  Snyder, 
"are  to  be  found  marine  shells  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico; 
copper  from  Lake  Superior;  catlinite  from  the  pipestone 
ledges  of  Minnesota;  obsidian  from  New  Mexico  or  the 
Rocky  Mountains;  mica  from  North  Carolina;  and  hematite 
and  galena  from  Southeast  Missouri  or  the  upper  Missis- 
sippi." The  age  of  these  "  altar  "  mounds  remains  a  problem 
unsolved,  but  beyond  doubt  the  builders  had  not  yet  be- 
come skilled  in  the  ceramic  art,  one  of  the  earliest  usually 
mastered  by  aborigines.  The  few  pottery  vessels  found  are 
coarse,  rude,  and  without  noticeable  artistic  decoration. 
The  human  skeletons  discovered  in  these  earth-banks  exhibit 
anatomical  characteristics  of  a  very  low  order.  Their  crania 
were  similar  to  those  of  the  lower  American  Indian  type, 
but  with  a  wide  variation  of  facial  angle.  They  possessed 
low,  narrow,  and  retreating  foreheads,  having  a  general 
appearance  that  was  ape-like  and  hideous,  yet  these  people 
developed  into  exceedingly  skilful  artisans. 

Early  white  settlers  were  surprised  to  discover — espe- 
cially in  Gallatin  County  —  evidences  of  salt-production  in 
very  ancient  times.  All  about  the  saline  springs  in  the 
southern  portion  of  the  State  were  found  fragments  of  huge, 
shallow,  earthenware  vessels,  with  fire-scarred  stones  and 
camp-refuse,  indicating  that  the  early  method  of  obtaining 
salt  was  by  evaporation.  Near  by  were  extensive  cemeteries, 
the  bodies  of  the  dead  lying  in  stone-lined  graves,  thus  appar- 
ently identifying  them  clearly  with  the  stone-cist  people  of 
the  American  Bottom.  This  ancient  use  of  salt  would  seem 


INDIAN  MOUNDS  NEAR  CAHOKIA 

TRACES    OF    THE    MOUND-BUILDERS 


SOME  MONUMENTS  OF  LOST  RJCES          25 

to  separate  this  race  widely  from  the  known  Indian  tribes 
subsequently  occupying  this  territory,  as  the  liking  for  salt 
was  with  the  early  Indians  an  acquired  taste.  The  Potta- 
wattomies,  and  indeed  all  the  tribes  north  and  west  of  Lake 
Michigan,  when  first  visited  by  French  explorers,  are  re- 
ported to  have  regarded  salt  with  great  disgust,  believing  it 
a  poison.  This  was  also  true  regarding  the  nomads  of  the 
western  plains  and  Rocky  Mountain  region  as  late  as  the 
Fremont  expedition.  Yet,  in  far  more  ancient  times  —  hun- 
dreds of  years,  it  may  be,  before  the  first  white  man  floated 
down  La  Belle  Riviere —  these  salt-makers  were  laboring  to 
supply  a  vast  population,  which  has  forever  vanished. 

In  this  brief  review,  we  have  not  touched  the  existing 
evidences  of  a  yet  more  ancient  people,  a  people  dating  so 
far  back  that  the  mind  fails  to  comprehend  the  vast  distance 
of  time  intervening.  This  Illinois  country  has  still  much 
to  offer  to  antiquarian  and  archaeologist  which  may  some 
day  proclaim  it  as  one  of  the  earliest-settled  portions  of 
the  earth's  surface.  Comparatively  little  investigation  has 
been  made,  but  that  little  points  to  an  antiquity  of  popula- 
tion before  which  the  mind  halts  aghast.  In  the  glacial 
drift  underlying  Chicago,  flint  implements  of  the  true  Palceo- 
lithic  age  have  already  been  found.  '  This  would  imply," 
writes  Snyder, "  the  presence  of  man  on  that  spot  as  long  ago 
as  the  Glacial  or  Interglacial  epochs.  Much  more  remains  to 
be  explored  throughout  the  State,  with  every  probability  of 
important  discoveries.  Ancient  moraines,  and  other  glacial 
deposits,  are  predominant  features  of  our  surface  geology, 
and  hold  many  a  secret  locked  from  sight,  yet  to  be  revealed 
to  the  scientific  investigator.  Primitive  man,  it  is  now  gener- 
ally conceded,  had  already  attained  to  the  Neolithic  stage  of 
stone  art  at  the  period  of  his  first  arrival  here.  It  remains 
to  be  discovered,  through  diligent  research  of  the  clay  and 
gravel  beds  of  Illinois,  new  and  clearer  conceptions  of  these 
earliest  inhabitants.  Possibly,  evidences  may  be  unearthed 


26  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

which  will  carry  the  primitive  American  back  to  that  im- 
mensely distant  period  of  the  Quaternary  deposits."  As 
it  is,  time  can  scarcely  be  reckoned  in  considering  the  ages 
in  which  human  life  has  found  existence  along  the  rivers 
of  the  State.  Again  and  again  has  this  land  been  trodden  by 
different  races,  cities  have  risen  and  fallen,  and  great  peoples 
have  vanished  utterly,  leaving  behind  them  no  record  of  exist- 
ence, except  their  voiceless  graves. 


CHAPTER  II 

OLD  INDIAN  VILLAGES  AND  BATTLE-FIELDS  — 
TRIBAL  BOUNDARIES 

WHEN  the  first  white  man,  floating  down  the  bosom  of 
the  majestic  Mississippi,  finally  landed  and  placed 
adventurous  foot  upon  the  soil  of  Illinois,  this  was  entirely 
the  country  of  the  Indian.  In  its  virgin  wilderness  beauty, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  magnificent  domain. 
Nature  had  done  her  part,  and  had  been  most  prodigal  with 
her  bounties.  No  dark  and  brooding  forest  shrouded  the 
landscape,  as  was  the  case  farther  eastward;  no  forbidding 
mountain-masses  frowningly  denied  easy  access.  Here  the 
green  and  brown  prairies  smiled  cheerfully  back  to  the  sun, 
beautified  by  countless  wild  flowers,  with  scattered  groves 
dotting  their  wide  expanse,  and  everywhere  diversified  by 
sparkling  water-courses.  Outwardly,  it  was  as  the  Garden 
of  Eden,  a  vast  park  designed  by  the  one  Great  Architect, 
and  beautified  by  His  genius.  A  magnificent  river  swept 
majestically  along  its  western  boundary,  while  one  scarcely 
less  important  divided  it  in  twain. 

Yet,  fair  as  was  the  prospect  from  the  summit  of  any  hill- 
top, it  was  the  rough  beauty  of  untamed  wilderness.  Noth- 
ing disturbed  the  dead  monotony  of  hill  and  dale,  plain  and 
woodland,  excepting  a  few  scattered  and  dirty  villages  with 
their  savage  inmates.  The  unbroken  prairies  were  browsed 
over  by  countless  herds  of  buffalo,  while  in  the  dark  coverts 
of  the  woods  bears  lurked  in  search  of  prey,  and  the  timid 
deer  skulked,  affrighted  by  the  slightest  sound.  From  vil- 
lage to  village  ran  snake-like  trails,  along  which  the  solitary 

hunter  stole  like  a  shadow,  or  some  fierce  party  of  bedecked 

27 


28  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

warriors  passed  swiftly  in  search  of  their  enemies.  It  was 
indeed  a  scene  of  nature,  untouched  as  yet  by  the  artificial 
restraints  of  civilization,  wild,  lonely,  savagely  beautiful,  but 
in  no  sense  was  it  anywhere  a  scene  of  prosperity  or  peace. 

Want  and  suffering  were  constant  visitants  in  these  black 
wigwams  —  improvidence  ever  stalking  a  grim  skeleton 
through  months  of  cruel  Winter,  —  while  death  and  torture 
haunted  each  mile  of  the  dim  trails.  It  was  everywhere  war, 
cruel,  devastating,  cowardly,  —  war  in  which  men,  women, 
and  children  perished  like  flies  beneath  the  war-club  and  the 
tomahawk.  What  races  may  have  dominated  these  plains 
and  valleys  —  whence  they  came,  whither  they  passed  away 
—  in  those  lost  centuries,  is  to-day  beyond  conjecture.  But 
we  know  enough  to  write  with  calm  certainty  that  whatever 
may  have  been  the  names  of  the  tribes  and  peoples  holding 
this  fair  hunting-ground,  they  accomplished  it  through  force 
of  arms,  and  were,  each  in  turn,  compelled  to  yield  it  up  unto 
a  stronger.  There  was  no  cessation  in  the  struggle;  it  had 
been  centuries  long,  and  would  continue  while  savagery 
held  mastership.  When  the  first  white  explorer  came,  drift- 
ing along  those  inviting  water-ways  from  the  north  and  east, 
he  discovered  here  people  of  the  Algonquin  race.  "They 
were  of  a  great  family  of  savages,"  comments  Parkman,  "at 
one  time  occupying  nearly  all  of  the  United  States  between 
the  thirty-fifth  and  sixtieth  parallels  of  latitude,  and  the  six- 
tieth and  one  hundred  and  fifth  meridians  of  longitude. 
Those  were  Algonquins  whom  Cartier  found  on  the  banks 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  whom  the  English  discovered  hunting 
and  fishing  along  the  Atlantic  coast  from  Maine  to  the  Caro- 
linas."  And  they  were  men  of  this  same  lineage  who  first 
greeted  the  Jesuit  Marquette  upon  the  banks  of  this  far-off 
Mississippi.  How  they  originally  came  here  we  may  never 
know  with  certainty,  nor  what  other  people  they  dispossessed 
in  order  to  gain  these  hunting-grounds.  Yet,  there  they  were 
in  that  year  of  earliest  white  discovery,  1673,  squeezed 


INDIAN  VILLAGES  AND  BATTLE-FIELDS  29 

in  between  the  encroaching  Sioux  upon  the  west,  and 
the  raiding  Iroquois  upon  the  east,  barely  holding  their  own 
in  the  unequal  struggle,  their  day  of  exile  already  near  at 
hand. 

To  Marquette  these  first  Indians  with  whom  he  met,  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Des  Moines  River,  spoke  of  themselves  as 
the  "  Illini."  Literally  interpreted,  this  simply  meant  that 
they  were  men,  the  term  being  used  to  distinguish  them- 
selves from  their  rapacious  enemies,  the  Iroquois,  whom 
they  were  accustomed  to  designate  as  beasts.  Yet  from 
that  hour  this  particular  confederation  of  Algonquin  tribes 
has  been  known  in  both  French  and  English  records  as 
the  Illinois.  They  had  long  been,  and  were  still,  a  powerful 
people,  the  five  tribes  composing  the  confederation  being  the 
Tamaroas,  Michigamies,  Kaskaskias,  Cahokias,  and  Peorias. 
These  tribes,  thus  loosely  banded  together  in  an  Indian  alli- 
ance for  purposes  of  defence,  claimed  and  yet  held  for  their 
special  hunting-grounds  all  that  country  bounded  on  the 
east  by  the  ridge  dividing  the  waters  flowing  into  the  Illinois 
from  those  flowing  into  the  Wabash,  between  the  head  wa- 
ters of  Saline  Creek,  and  extending  as  far  north  as  the  debat- 
able ground  between  them  and  their  nearest  encroaching 
neighbors,  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Winnebagoes,  and  Kickapoos. 
In  other  words,  their  territory  may  roughly  be  said  to  have 
extended  from  a  line  drawn  directly  southward  from  the 
junction  of  the  Des  Plaines  River  with  the  Illinois  to  a  point 
on  the  Ohio  about  where  Golconda  now  stands,  extending 
westward  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  and  northwest- 
ward as  far  as  Rock  River.  Their  favorite  and  most  popu- 
lous villages  were  situated  upon  the  Illinois,  the  Des  Plaines, 
and  the  lower  Kankakee.  Marquette  describes  their  prin- 
cipal town  as  being  situated  upon  the  bank  of  the  Illinois 
River,  seven  miles  below  the  present  city  of  Ottawa.  It  was 
then  called  Kaskaskia,  and  contained  seventy-four  lodges. 
In  1679,  six  years  later,  according  to  the  reports  of  Henne- 


3° 


HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 


pin,  it  had  four  hundred  and  sixty  lodges,  with  a  total 
population  of  from  six  to  eight  thousand.  These  lodges 
extended  along  the  river  for  fully  a  mile,  and  the  Indians 
cultivated  the  adjacent  meadows,  raising  crops  of  pumpkins, 
beans,  and  Indian  corn.  Father  Rasles  mentions  ten  or 
twelve  other  smaller  villages,  scattered  throughout  their 
territory.  The  exact  position  of  very  few  of  these  can  be 
traced,  although  it  is  known  that  in  1680  there  were  Illinois 
villages  five  miles  below  the  site  of  Peoria,  and  others  very 
nearly  where  the  city  of  Beardstown  now  stands.  In  1697 
there  was  one  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Spring 
Bay,  and  a  very  old  Indian  village,  probably  of  this  same 
people,  stood  slightly  south  of  the  present  town  of  Toulon, 
in  Stark  County.  If  these  latter  were  the  Illinois,  then  this 
spot  must  have  marked  the  extreme  limit  of  their  perma- 
nent residence,  for  Henry  and  Bureau  Counties  were,  even 
at  this  time,  hunted  over  by  bands  of  Kickapoo  warriors. 

The  remaining  portions  of  the  State  were  at  this  date  occu- 
pied by  the  following  Indian  tribes:  East  of  the  central  di- 
viding ridge,  or  water-shed,  were  three  branches  of  the  Miami 
confederation,  the  Weamiamies  having  their  hunting-grounds 
in  Cook  and  Lake  Counties,  the  Miamis  proper,  the  country 
lying  closely  along  the  Indiana  state  line  north  of  Danville, 
and  the  Piankishaws  the  country  extending  from  that  point 
south  to  the  Ohio.  This  latter  tribe  was  the  only  one  of  the 
three  to  retain  possession  for  any  length  of  time,  the  others 
being  early  forced  eastward  by  the  encroachments  of  other 
tribes  from  the  north.  The  Kickapoos  were  in  the  extreme 
northwest,  their  southern  limit  being  Rock  River.  Just 
across  the  Wisconsin  line,  in  the  country  adjacent  to  the 
great  lake,  were  scattered  the  Pottawattomies,  who  were 
slowly  but  resistlessly  pressing  southward. 

It  is  hard  to  conceive  of  a  more  pathetic  story  than  that 
revealed  in  the  fate  of  the  Illinois.  Less  than  a  year  after 
La  Salle  first  visited  them,  the  Iroquois  made  a  sudden  raid 


INDIAN  VILLAGES  AND  BATTLE-FIELDS         31 

into  their  territory,  captured  and  burned  their  principal  town 
near  Ottawa,  and  drove  the  confederated  tribes  down  the 
river  as  far  as  the  Mississippi.  Here  the  Tamaroas  were 
overtaken  by  their  merciless  pursuers,  a  large  number  of 
warriors  killed,  and  seven  hundred  of  their  women  and 
children  taken  prisoners.  Many  of  these  were  burned  at 
the  stake,  or  cruelly  tortured,  until,  their  fierce  passions 
satiated,  the  invading  savages  finally  returned  eastward, 
bearing  with  them  into  slavery  those  who  remained  alive. 
With  this  withdrawal  of  the  enemy  the  survivors  of  the 
scattered  and  disheartened  Illinois  tribes  began  slowly 
drifting  back  to  the  neighborhood  of  their  old  home,  and, 
uniting  together,  partially  rebuilt  their  destroyed  town.  In 
1682,  when  La  Salle  collected  his  Indian  colony  about  Fort 
St.  Louis  ( Starved  Rock ),  the  Illinois  furnished  twelve 
hundred  of  the  total  of  thirty-eight  hundred  warriors 
thus  banded  together  in  defence  under  French  protection. 

Their  safety,  which  then  seemed  assured,  was,  however, 
but  short-lived.  La  Salle's  purposes  of  exploration,  his 
lack  of  available  men  for  suitable  garrisons,  and  the  jeal- 
ousies in  Canada  which  tied  his  hands,  resulted  in  the  neces- 
sity of  his  finally  leaving  these  Indians  to  their  fate.  Nor 
was  it  long  in  coming.  The  savage  Iroquois,  busied  with 
war  in  their  own  territory,  did  not  return  in  force  to  com- 
plete their  bloody  work  on  the  Illinois  prairies,  but  other 
enemies  were  numerous,  aggressive,  and  scarcely  less  cruel. 
The  Sacs  and  Foxes  from  west  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Kick- 
apoos  from  beyond  Rock  River,  and  the  Pottawattomies 
from  Southern  Wisconsin,  all  alike  eager  to  gain  possession 
of  these  superb  hunting-grounds,  swarmed  down  in  merciless 
raids  upon  the  dispirited  remnant  of  the  Illinois.  Some  re- 
sistance was  attempted,  and  the  Foxes  were  defeated  in  two 
severe  battles  at  Starved  Rock  and  near  the  Peoria  Lake,  los- 
ing more  than  a  hundred  warriors.  But  the  Illinois  tribes- 
men were  not  the  fighters  they  had  once  been,  and  little 


32  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

by  little  they  abandoned  the  country.  Peoria,  Cahokia,  and 
Kaskaskia  became  centres  for  the  tribes  bearing  these  names. 
TheTamaroas  amalgamated  themselves  with  the  Kaskaskias, 
while  the  Michigamies  located  near  Fort  Chartres.  By  the 
year  1736  these  were  nearly  all  gathered  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  little  French  settlements  on  the  Mississippi, 
and  numbered  in  warriors  as  follows:  Michigamies,  250; 
Kaskaskias,  100;  Peorias,  50;  Cahokias  and  Tamaroas,  200, 
—  making  a  total  of  600  fighting  men.  Considering  that 
only  fifty-seven  years  before  this  same  people  numbered 
twelve  thousand  souls,  with  large  prosperous  villages  and 
a  hunting-ground  covering  fully  two-thirds  of  the  State,  the 
suffering  and  barbarity  of  those  early  times  can  be  some- 
what comprehended. 

Nor  were  their  misfortunes  as  yet  at  an  end.  In  common 
with  all  other  western  tribes,  they  became  involved  in  the 
conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  but  apparently  were  unwilling  to  take 
active  part  in  the  field.  When  that  great  chief  visited  them 
in  1764  to  make  his  final  appeal,  their  zeal  did  not  meet  his 
desires,  and  he  told  them  that  if  they  hesitated  longer  he 
"would  consume  their  tribes  as  fire  consumes  the  dry  grass 
on  the  prairies."  After  Pontiac's  final  defeat,  he  fled  for 
refuge  to  Illinois,  and  was  killed  by  an  Indian  at  Cahokia. 
This  act  was  laid  to  that  tribe,  —  whether  rightfully  or  wrong- 
fully has  never  been  established,  —  and  greatly  angered  the 
Indian  nations  who  for  so  long  had  been  loyal  to  the  great 
chieftain.  They  swarmed  down  from  the  north  and  the  east, 
eager  to  avenge  his  death,  and  almost  annihilated  the  tribes 
of  the  Illinois.  Tradition  states  that  a  band  of  these  fugi- 
tives, seeking  to  escape  the  general  slaughter,  finally  took 
refuge  on  the  summit  of  that  high  rock  which  had  been  the 
site  of  Fort  St.  Louis.  There  they  were  besieged  by  an  over- 
whelming force  of  Pottawattomies,  which  the  great  strength 
of  this  natural  fortress  enabled  them  easily  to  keep  at  bay. 
But  hunger  and  thirst  united  to  defeat  them,  when  the  savage 


Qi 
« 
> 

5 


INDIAN  VILLAGES  AND  BATTLE-FIELDS         33 

foe  could  not.  Their  small  quantity  of  provisions  quickly 
failed,  and  their  supply  of  water  was  stopped  by  the  enemy 
severing  the  cords  attached  to  the  vessels  with  which  they 
elevated  it  from  the  river  below.  Thus  surrounded  by  re- 
lentless avengers,  they  took  one  last  lingering  look  at  their 
beautiful  hunting-grounds,  spread  out  like  a  panorama  along 
the  gently  rolling  river  beneath  them,  and  then  with  true 
Indian  fortitude  laid  themselves  down,  and  expired  without 
a  sigh  or  a  tear.  Their  tragic  fate  has  given  to  this  lofty 
citadel  the  name  of  Starved  Rock;  many  years  afterward 
their  bones  were  seen  whitening  on  its  summit.  The  Tama- 
roas,  while  not  entirely  exterminated,  lost  their  identity 
as  a  separate  tribe,  in  a  fierce  battle  with  the  Shawnees  fought 
near  the  eastern  limits  of  Randolph  County;  and  at  the  con- 
clusion of  this  avenging  war  the  entire  confederation  of  the 
Illinois  had  been  reduced  to  two  tribes,  the  Kaskaskias  and 
Peorias.  Together  they  could  muster  but  a  hundred  and 
fifty  warriors.  In  the  year  1850,  when  the  remnant  was  re- 
moved from  its  old  home  to  the  Indian  Territory,  only 
eighty-four  of  the  race  were  found. 

Let  us  turn  again  to  the  map,  and  note  those  changes 
which  less  than  a  hundred  years  of  savage,  relentless  war 
had  wrought  in  this  Indian-haunted  land.  It  is  1765;  the 
wasted  remnant  of  the  once  powerful  Illinois  confederacy 
are  now  huddled,  fear-stricken,  and  broken  of  spirit,  about 
the  French  settlements  on  the  Mississippi,  occupying  as  a 
hunting-ground  the  present  counties  of  Madison,  St.  Clair, 
Monroe,  and  Randolph.  The  Piankishaws  have  mean- 
while spread  their  boundaries  slightly  toward  the  west,  having 
obtained  control  of  the  Mississippi,  south  of  the  Randolph 
County  line,  but  the  warlike  Shawnees,  pouring  in  from  the 
east,  have  won  from  them  a  considerable  strip  along  the 
Wabash  and  Ohio,  probably  most  of  White,  Hamilton,  Galla- 
tin,  Pope,  Saline,  and  Massac  Counties.  Farther  north,  even 
a  greater  change  is  noticeable.  The  northern  Miamis  have 


34  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

been  driven  westward  beyond  the  State  limits  by  an  inroad 
of  Pottawattomies  from  Wisconsin.  These  latter  have  swept 
entirely  around  the  head  of  the  great  lake,  and  have 
spread  out  across  the  prairies  as  far  south  as  the  Kankakee. 
Pressed  forward  by  the  invading  Sacs  and  Foxes,  the  Kick- 
apoos  have  crossed  Rock  River  and  taken  possession  of  the 
deserted  lands  of  the  Illinois,  ranging  throughout  the  entire 
central  portion  of  the  State.  Close  behind  them  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  have  pushed  their  way,  until  they  now  control  all  that 
country  lying  west  and  north  of  the  Illinois  River. 

As  late  as  1812  these  same  Indian  tribes  divided  the  State 
between  them,  but  the  boundaries  of  their  possessions  had 
changed.  The  Piankishaws  had  been  pressed  eastward, 
merely  retaining  a  small  section  along  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Wabash.  The  Pottawattomies  had  driven  the  Kicka- 
poos  yet  farther  south,  taking  to  themselves  the  central  por- 
tion of  the  State,  and  compelling  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  to  retire 
north  of  Rock  River.  Here  these  latter  were  somewhat 
closely  hemmed  in  by  an  entering  wedge  of  Winnebagoes 
from  Wisconsin.  The  Kickapoo  hunting-grounds  were 
nearly  as  extensive  as  before,  but  had  been  changed  to  the 
southwestern  counties  of  the  State.  A  brief  sketch  of  these 
tribes  so  intimately  connected  with  the  early  history  of  Illi- 
nois will  be  found  full  of  interest,  and  of  the  unspeakable 
pathos  of  Indian  life. 

More  than  all  the  others  combined,  the  Kickapoos  served 
to  retard  the  advance  of  white  settlement.  From  the  earliest 
days,  their  bitter  hatred  of  the  encroaching  race  was  implac- 
able, and  they  were  ever  a  powerful  and  fierce  tribe.  Their 
historical  records  run  back  to  the  first  occupation  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  valley  by  the  French.  Champlain  found  them 
along  the  shores  of  Lake  Huron.  From  that  early  day  they 
proved  an  untractable  people,  never  forming  any  lasting  alli- 
ance with  either  the  French  or  the  English.  They  reached 
Rock  River  from  the  north  about  the  same  time  as  the  first 


INDIAN  VILLAGES  AND  BATTLE-FIELDS        35 

white  explorers  of  Illinois,  and  from  that  date  remained 
prominent  in  all  the  savage  warfare  incident  to  early  coloni- 
zation, roaming  at  different  periods  over  nearly  every  county 
within  the  present  limits  of  the  State.  They  were  more  civ- 
ilized, industrious,  energetic,  and  cleanly  than  their  neigh- 
bors, but  equally  cruel,  treacherous,  and  unforgiving.  They 
were  always  among  the  first  to  commence  war,  the  last  to 
submit  and  enter  into  treaties.  They  were  in  the  field  against 
Generals  Harmar,  St.  Clair,  and  Wayne,  and  were  leaders 
in  all  the  bloody  charges  at  Tippecanoe.  For  many  years 
they  harassed  the  exposed  settlements,  and  were  long  the 
terror  of  the  Illinois  frontier.  When  finally  removed  from 
the  limits  of  the  State,  they  yet  retained  their  old  animosity 
against  Americans,  retiring  to  Texas,  then  a  province  of 
Mexico,  rather  than  remain  on  United  States  territory.  It 
is  impossible  to  estimate  the  number  of  warriors  composing 
this  tribe  in  the  days  of  their  power,  but  it  is  evident  from  the 
country  controlled  by  them,  as  well  as  the  number  and  im- 
portance of  their  villages,  that  they  must  have  formed  a 
large  fighting  force.  Their  principal  towns  were  located  on 
Kickapoo  Creek,  and  at  Elkhart  Grove. 

The  Piankishaws,  while  never  making  any  great  impress 
on  early  Illinois  history,  yet  occupied  for  some  years  much 
of  its  territory.  They  held  membership  in  the  Miami  con- 
federation, and  hunted  over  that  country  lying  to  the  west- 
ward of  the  Wabash,  as  far  as  the  dividing  ridge,  and  at  one 
time  attained  to  the  Mississippi.  They  were  more  largely 
represented  in  La  Salle's  colony  at  Fort  St.  Louis  than  any 
other  one  tribe,  and  later  took  active  part  in  the  conspiracy 
of  Pontiac.  Within  the  knowledge  of  white  men,  they  held 
place  on  Illinois  soil  for  two  hundred  years.  Like  the  other 
original  Illinois  tribes,  they  were  constantly  harassed  by  the 
raiding  Iroquois,  and  finally  were  crushed  between  the  in- 
vading Kickapoos  and  Shawnees,  and  thus  forced  across  the 
State  boundaries.  They  were  but  seldom  mentioned  in  the 


36  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

early  records  as  being  connected  with  raids  on  the  white  set- 
tlers. When  removed  to  Indian  Territory  in  1850,  their 
pitiful  remnant  numbered  but  one  hundred  and  seven 
persons. 

The  Mascoutins  were  a  tribe  holding  close  relationship  to 
the  Illinois  confederation,  and  are  believed  to  have  occupied 
some  portion  of  the  State  for  brief  intervals.  Marquette  met 
them  in  1673,  near  tne  portage  of  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin 
Rivers;  and  Marest  states  that  in  1712  they  had  settlements 
on  the  Wabash,  and  later  ranged  over  the  prairies  between 
there  and  the  Illinois  River.  They  became  associated,  and 
finally  absorbed,  with  both  the  Foxes  and  the  Kickapoos, 
whom  they  resembled  in  deceit  and  treachery.  Charlevoix 
states  that  they,  with  the  Kickapoos  and  Foxes  as  confede- 
rates, formed  a  plot  against  the  French,  but  before  it  could  be 
consummated  were  surprised  by  a  band  of  Ottawas  and 
Pottawattomies,  with  the  result  that  one  hundred  and 
fifty  of  them  were  destroyed.  After  the  surrender  of  the 
French  possessions  to  the  English,  Colonel  Croghan  was  sent 
to  conciliate  the  western  tribes.  Having  descended  the 
Ohio  to  a  point  a  little  below  Shawneetown,  the  Mascoutins, 
together  with  some  Kickapoos,  attacked  and  made  him  and 
his  men  prisoners.  Under  the  name  of  Meadow  Indians, 
they  were  mentioned  by  General  Clark,  whom  they  endeav- 
ored to  surprise  by  treachery  in  1778. 

The  Sacs  and  Foxes,  except  in  raiding  parties,  were  prob- 
ably never  south  of  the  Illinois  River,  rior  did  they  for  any 
considerable  length  of  time  exercise  control  over  the  country 
lying  between  that  river  and  the  Rock.  But  throughout 
the  entire  northwestern  portion  of  the  State  they  enter  largely 
into  its  early  history,  while  during  the  Black  Hawk  War  their 
fame  became  national.  While  originally  composing  two 
separate  tribes,  they  had,  by  long  residence  together  and 
intermarriage,  become  practically  one  people.  Both  tribes 
came  from  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Quebec 


INDIAN  VILLAGES  AND  BATTLE-FIELDS         37 

and  Montreal,  the  Foxes  being  the  earliest  to  emigrate,  mak- 
ing a  new  home  for  themselves  on  the  banks  of  that  river 
in  Wisconsin  which  has  ever  since  borne  their  name.  A 
bloody  and  disastrous  war  with  the  Iroquois  soon  induced 
the  Sacs  to  join  them,  when,  for  mutual  protection  against 
the  surrounding  savages,  they  united  as  one  nation.  Mov- 
ing steadily  southward,  they  finally  gained  foothold  in  north- 
western Illinois  by  driving  out  the  Sauteurs,  a  branch  of  the 
Chippewas,  who  then  held  possession.  It  is  said  that  in 
the  course  of  this  migration  they  also  had  a  severe  battle  with 
the  Mascoutins,  nearly  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Iowa  River, 
in  which  the  latter  were  not  only  defeated  but  almost  extermi- 
nated. Having  thus  conquered  the  country,  they  established 
their  chief  village  near  the  mouth  of  Rock  River,  occupy- 
ing a  high  bluff  overlooking  the  present  town  of  Milan,  now 
known  as  Black  Hawk's  Watch  Tower.  They  also  had  several 
smaller  villages  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi.  They 
were  almost  constantly  at  war,  both  offensive  and  defensive, 
with  the  Sioux,  Pawnees,  Osages,  and  Kickapoos,  nor  in  any 
of  these  fierce  and  savage  conflicts  were  they  found  deficient 
in  courage.  In  the  struggle  of  1812  they  took  active  part  upon 
the  British  side  and  rendered  good  service,  defeating  and 
driving  back  every  American  expedition  despatched  into  their 
country.  Later,  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  although  defeated 
and  literally  cut  to  pieces  by  overwhelming  numbers,  their 
old  reputation  as  hard  fighters  was  abundantly  sustained. 
In  the  year  1805  their  numbers  were  given  as  follows:  Sacs, 
2,850,  of  whom  700  were  warriors;  Foxes,  1,750,  of  whom  400 
were  warriors.  In  1825  the  total  number  in  the  two  tribes 
was  reported  at  4,600.  When  finally  transferred  to  Indian 
Territory,  they  numbered  only  1,600.  These  tribes  possessed 
one  very  peculiar  custom,  unnoted  anywhere  else  in  Indian 
life.  Each  male  child  at  birth  was  marked  with  either 
black  or  white  paint,  the  mother  being  extremely  careful 
to  apply  the  two  colors  alternately,  so  that  each  family,  and 


38  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

the  entire  nation,  might  be  thus  divided  into  two  nearly 
equal  classes,  the  blacks  and  the  whites.  The  object  of 
these  distinctive  marks,  which  were  retained  through  life, 
was  to  keep  alive  a  constant  spirit  of  emulation  in  the  tribe. 
In  their  games,  hunts,  and  public  ceremonies,  the  blacks 
were  always  the  competitors  of  the  whites,  while  in  war  each 
party  was  ambitious  to  take  more  scalps  than  the  other. 

The  Pottawattomies  were  for  a  long  period  a  power  in  the 
Illinois  country.  They  originally  fought  their  way  in  along 
the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  then,  battling  constantly, 
drove  back  the  struggling  Kickapoos  beyond  the  Sangamon, 
and  forced  the  fierce  Sacs  and  Foxes  to  retire  behind  the 
Rock,  while  they  promptly  annexed  all  the  hunting-grounds 
lying  between.  On  the  earlier  French  maps  the  principal 
village  of  this  people  was  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Joseph  River,  in  Michigan.  Here  for  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury Jesuit  priests  labored  with  them,  but  apparently  to  little 
avail.  During  Pontiac's  War,  disguising  their  object  under 
a  mask  of  friendship,  they  attacked  the  small  English  garri- 
son stationed  there,  and  killed  all  but  three  men.  In  Illinois, 
some  years  later,  they  were  the  principal  participants  in  the 
massacre  at  Fort  Dearborn,  one  of  the  most  atrocious  acts  of 
treachery  in  the  annals  of  the  Northwest.  Portions  of  both 
the  Chippewa  and  Ottawa  tribes  were  closely  associated 
with  them  during  their  career  in  Illinois.  The  Sauteurs,  of 
the  Chippewa  branch,  at  an  early  date  dwelt  along  the  east- 
ern bank  of  the  Mississippi,  having  villages  at  Rock  Island 
and  Quincy.  Driven  out  by  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  they  crossed 
the  river,  and  built  a  new  town  on  the  present  site  of  Daven- 
port. The  Pottawattomies  were  among  the  most  energetic 
and  powerful  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  Northwest,  and 
fought  with  savage  ferocity  in  all  the  wars  along  the  border. 
At  Detroit,  Mackinaw,  and  other  British  posts,  in  Pontiac's 
time,  they  were  without  rivals  in  the  work  of  carnage  and 
death.  They  were  the  last  native  tribe  to  take  their  depart- 


INDIAN  PILLAGES  AND  BATTLE-FIELDS        39 

ure  from  Illinois,  lingering  about  Chicago  until  1835.  In 
1850,  in  the  Indian  Territory,  they  numbered  1,500,  many 
of  them  prosperous,  and  all  seemingly  more  ambitious  than 
Indians  of  other  stock. 

Two  other  tribes  require  consideration  in  this  connection. 
For  some  years  a  fragment  of  the  Shawnee  nation  dwelt  in 
the  southeastern  portion  of  the  State,  their  principal  village 
being  Shawneetown,  in  Gallatin  County,  on  the  Ohio  River. 
They  were  a  bold,  roving,  adventurous  people,  who  had 
fought  their  way  eastward  from  the  Atlantic  coast.  Con- 
stantly in  broils,  their  stay  in  Illinois  was  a  bloody  one.  Dur- 
ing the  French  and  Indian  War,  they  obtained  arms  from  the 
French,  and  overran  the  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania  and  Vir- 
ginia. So  atrocious  had  been  their  conduct,  that  when  the 
war  was  over  they  supposed  themselves  excluded  from  the 
general  amnesty,  and  prepared  to  murder  their  prisoners 
and  fight  to  the  death.  Just  before  the  coming  of  Clark, 
they  exterminated  the  Tamaroas  and  moved  eastward  out  of 
the  State.  They  fought  battles  with  the  Kickapoos  and 
the  Piankishaws  in  order  to  hold  their  territory.  The  Winne- 
bagoes  were  another  tribe  who  gained  a  foothold  in  Illinois, 
pushing  down  in  wedge-like  form  from  Wisconsin  between 
the  Sacs  and  Foxes  and  Pottawattomies,  occupying  the 
county  which  now  bears  their  name  and  some  territory 
adjacent  to  it  upon  the  east.  They  took  part,  although  in  a 
small  way,  in  the  harassing  of  early  American  settlements, 
even  assailing  a  steamboat  on  the  Mississippi  as  late  as 
1827.  It  is  supposed  that  they  had  formerly  lived  in  Illinois, 
their  traditions  stating  that  their  ancestors  had  built  a  fort 
there,  which  some  authorities  connect  with  the  archaeological 
remains  of  an  ancient  work  found  on  Rock  River. 

This,  in  brief,  is  the  Indian  record  of  Illinois  since  the 
coming  of  white  men.  Similar  scenes  of  savage  war  and 
desolation,  of  exterminated  tribes  and  decimated  nations, 
undoubtedly  extend  back  for  hundreds  of  years  previous. 


40  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

For  many  centuries  Illinois  had  been  a  battle-ground,  a  bone 
of  contention  among  the  red  men.  Hardly  a  foot  of  its 
territory  but  has  witnessed  scenes  of  savage  atrocity  before 
which  the  civilized  mind  shrinks  in  horror.  From  the  com- 
ing of  the  first  Frenchman,  it  yet  continued  a  place  of  struggle 
for  nearly  three  hundred  years,  until  the  Indian  was  finally 
banished  beyond  its  borders.  Red  against  red,  red  against 
white,  and  white  against  white  battled  almost  unceasingly, 
until  scarcely  a  county  but  has  its  memory,  scarcely  a  spot 
remains  without  its  associations  of  war.  The  prairies  have 
drunk  of  human  blood,  and  the  streams  have  run  red  with 
sacrifice. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  FIRST   EXPLORERS 

WHO  was  the  first  white  man  to  set  foot  upon  the  soil 
of  Illinois  will  probably  remain  forever  unknown. 
It  may  have  been  some  wandering  coureur  de  hots,  some 
adventurous  fur  trader,  scarcely  more  civilized  than  those  sav- 
ages among  whom  he  dwelt,  and  whose  life  finally  went  out 
unmissed  in  the  dark  forests,  or  upon  the  desolate  prairies.  It 
may  have  been  La  Salle,  during  that  mysterious  year  which 
has  disappeared  from  his  history,  when  rumor  says  he  crossed 
from  the  shores  of  the  great  lake  to  the  banks  of  the  Des 
Plaines.  Whoever  it  may  have  been,  the  world  was  no  wiser 
for  his  discoveries,  and  hence  the  honor  of  first  explorer  can- 
not justly  be  accorded  him. 

Stand  near  the  head  of  the  little  island  breasting  the  down- 
ward sweep  of  the  vast  Mississippi,  and  look  about  you.  It 
lies  opposite  where  the  present  dividing  line  between  Illinois 
and  Wisconsin  touches  the  eastern  river  bank.  It  is  the  i8th 
of  June,  1673.  This  is  the  heart  of  the  wilderness.  Hun- 
dreds of  miles  to  the  northeast,  a  little  stockade  of  logs  shelters 
a  Jesuit  priest  or  two,  while,  east  of  that  point,  scattered 
here  and  there  amid  the  surrounding  desolation,  are  others 
similar,  the  merest  isolated  sentinels  of  French  occupancy, 
stretching  a  thin  line  of  communication  through  thousands 
of  leagues  of  Indian-haunted  forests  to  the  far-ofF  St.  Law- 
rence. Everywhere  is  the  brooding  silence,  everywhere 
absence  of  human  activity.  The  trees  bordering  the  streams 
are  filled  with  birds;  the  rice-swamps  are  vocal;  out  on  the 
open  prairies  range  the  buffalo  and  the  deer.  Down  in  some 
valley  hides  an  Indian  village,  dark,  forbidding,  ever  fearful 

41 


42  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

of  the  bursting  upon  it  of  cruel,  savage  foes.  Dim  trails 
wind  sinuously  from  point  to  point  for  guidance  to  the 
hunter  or  the  war  party,  but  for  league  on  league  in  every 
direction  of  the  compass  expands  that  same  unvexed  vista 
of  silent  plain  and  mysterious  forest. 

Nothing  moves  along  the  glistening  surface  of  the  great 
river.  In  solitary  grandeur  it  pours  its  mighty  flood  through 
the  wilderness,  as  it  has  done  for  unknown  centuries.  Past 
forest  and  grove  and  prairie  its  murmuring  waters  run,  by 
thickets  and  marshes  and  silent  islands,  rippling  gently  over 
broad  sand-bars,  and  swirling  back  at  the  dark  trees  high 
above  on  some  bold  bluff.  It  is  the  monarch  of  all  this  mys- 
terious land — the  unnamed  ruler  upon  whose  bosom  no 
white  man's  keel  has  ever  made  impress.  But  the  hour  has 
now  dawned  for  the  unlocking  of  the  great  secret,  and  around 
that  distant  curve  steal  silently  two  birch  canoes,  their  ad- 
venturous prows  turned  southward,  their  occupants  of  the 
white  race.  Mark  them  as  they  sweep  swiftly  past,  the  ex- 
plorers' anxious  eyes  upon  the  unknown  shores,  their  ears 
listening  intently  for  any  strange  sound  which  may  warn  of 
danger.  They  are  the  first  of  their  blood  to  pass  this  way 
in  all  the  centuries.  Hundreds  of  leagues  from  nearest  com- 
panionship, fronting  the  unknown,  the  savage  Indian  on 
every  side,  the  solemn  wilderness  a  weight  upon  them,  they 
yet  press  sternly  forward,  feeling  their  uncertain  passage 
mile  by  mile  deeper  into  the  desolation. 

In  tne  first  of  these  canoes  are  three  men.  At  the  paddles 
two  Canadian  voyageurs,  swarthy  of  face,  roughened  to  every 
hardship  of  this  far  frontier,  their  heads  wound  about  with 
gay-colored  kerchiefs,  their  wide-collared  shirts  flung  open 
to  the  waist.  But  up  within  the  bow,  his  eye  scanning  every 
object,  is  a  man  of  another  type  —  strong  of  build,  dark  of  eye 
and  beard,  alert,  with  intelligent  face  and  energetic  gesture. 
It  is  Louis  Joliet,  the  son  of  a  Quebec  blacksmith,  himself  a 
fur  trader,  and  the  man  especially  selected  by  Talon  and 


THE  FIRST  EXPLORERS  43 

Frontenac  to  unlock  the  secrets  of  this  great,  mysterious 
river  of  the  west,  the  wonders  of  which  have  been  borne  to 
French  ears  from  the  lips  of  wandering  Sioux.  Behind, 
urged  on  by  three  other  paddling  engages,  the  counterparts 
of  those  commanded  by  Joliet,  sweeps  the  second  canoe;  but 
he  who  sits  within,  unoccupied,  his  eyes  searching  the  waters 
or  uplifted  in  prayer  toward  the  blue  sky,  has  little  in  com- 
mon with  that  aggressive  fur  trader  so  sternly  pointing  the 
way.  He  is  a  man  of  thirty-six  years,  smooth-shaven, 
delicate  of  frame,  his  face  thin  and  care-worn  from 
excessive  vigils,  his  eyes  deeply  sunken,  his  form  envel- 
oped in  a  shapeless  black  robe,  frayed  and  rusty  from  long 
travel.  At  his  girdle  hangs  a  crucifix,  and  his  white  hands 
finger  the  rosary  about  his  throat,  his  lips  moving  in  contin- 
ual supplication.  It  is  Pere  Jacques  Marquette,  of  the  Soci- 
ety of  the  Jesuits,  for  five  years  past  missionary  to  the  Upper 
Lakes.  To  look  at  him  is  to  read  his  traits  of  character  be- 
yond mistake.  He  is  a  religious  enthusiast,  a  true  successor 
to  those  other  priestly  martyrs  of  the  frontier — Jogues,  Gar- 
nier,  and  Brebeuf.  For  Christ  and  the  Virgin  he  burns  to 
dare  and  to  sufFer,  to  discover  new  lands  and  to  conquer  new 
realms.  His  one  ever-present  thought  now,  as  these  boats 
sweep  swiftly  downward,  is  the  salvation  of  souls;  Joliet 
may  scan  those  banks  with  apprehension,  but  Marquette 
longs  for  sight  of  savages,  that  he  may  deliver  to  them  the 
message  of  his  religion. 

We  know  not  when,  nor  where,  these  strange  companions 
first  placed  foot  upon  the  soil  of  Illinois.  Somewhere  along 
that  upper  river  they  made  their  earliest  bivouac,  drew  up 
the  inverted  canoes  upon  the  bank,  built  their  flickering  fire, 
talked  together  over  the  meal  of  bison  flesh  and  their  even- 
ing pipes,  to  finally  slumber  beneath  the  watchful  stars. 
All  around  them  nature  was  most  beautifully  arrayed,  the 
country  stretching  away  on  either  hand  like  a  vast  park,  di- 
versified by  dark  groves,  flower-strewn  prairies,  and  streams 


44  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

of  silvery  water.  But  it  seemed  deserted  of  inhabitants  —  it 
was  a  solitude,  unrelieved  by  faintest  trace  of  man's  presence. 
Knowing  not  what  dangers  might  lurk  below,  they  advanced 
only  during  the  day,  making  camp  with  each  twilight  to  cook 
their  evening  meal,  then  anchoring  their  canoes  well  out  in 
the  wide  stream  while  they  slept.  For  some  ten  days  they  thus 
slowly  advanced  southward,  without  gaining  a  glimpse  of  a 
human  being,  their  souls  oppressed  by  the  intense  loneliness 
of  their  surroundings  and  the  silent  majesty  of  that  mighty 
river  on  which  they  journeyed,  when,  on  the  twenty-fifth, 
they  discovered  the  unmistakable  footprints  of  men  in  the 
mud  of  the  western  bank.  Landing,  probably,  close  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river  Des  Moines,  they  found  a  deeply  indented 
path  leading  directly  across  the  surrounding  prairie.  De- 
termined to  learn  something  of  their  whereabouts  and  sur- 
roundings, Joliet  and  Marquette,  leaving  their  canoes  in 
charge  of  their  engages,  set  forth  alone  on  their  dangerous 
mission  of  discovery,  the  one  anxious  for  guidance  on  the 
further  journey,  the  other  eager  to  find  savages  to  whom  he 
might  preach. 

The  day  was  beautifully  clear,  and  for  some  two  leagues 
they  walked,  scarcely  exchanging  a  word,  following  that  nar- 
row trail  across  the  open  prairie  and  through  dark  forest, 
their  hearts  filled  with  apprehension,  until  they  suddenly 
came  upon  an  Indian  village  along  the  river  bank,  and 
could  distinguish  two  others  crowning  a  hill  still  farther 
away.  With  anxious  hearts  they  continued  to  advance, 
finally  coming  within  sound  of  the  voices  of  the  unsuspect- 
ing savages.  Then  they  stood  boldly  forth  in  the  open 
prairie  and  shouted  aloud  to  attract  attention.  Instantly  all 
was  confusion  in  the  near-by  village.  The  inmates  swarmed 
forth  from  the  huts,  while  four  old  men,  a  little  later,  stalked 
gravely  out  to  meet  them.  Their  earliest  greeting  proved 
friendly,  and  to  Marquette's  inquiry  in  the  Algonquin 
tongue  they  made  answer  that  they  were  "  Illini,"  and  offered 


THE  FIRST  EXPLORERS  45 

to  their  visitors  the  calumet  of  peace.  All  the  remainder  of 
that  day  and  night  the  two  adventurers  passed  in  these  vil- 
lages, being  continually  feasted  by  the  tribe,  and  receiving 
much  valuable  information  relative  to  the  surrounding  tribes 
of  Indians.  Marquette  preached  to  them  in  the  Algonquin 
dialect,  of  which  he  was  master,  and  the  principal  chief,  in 
return,  presented  them  with  a  young  slave,  which  they  felt 
obliged  to  accept.  In  the  morning,  six  hundred  savages, 
gay  in  their  barbaric  adornment,  escorted  them  in  safety 
back  to  their  canoes,  and  lined  the  river  bank  as  they  de- 
parted. 

Once  again  they  were  left  without  guidance  and  alone, 
drifting  down  the  vast,  solemn  river  unexplored  by  white 
men,  past  unknown  shores,  and  constantly  facing  mysterious 
perils.  They  thus  glided  by  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois, 
gaining  a  fleeting  glimpse  up  the  quiet,  silvery  stream,  and 
noting  its  peaceful  current,  while  a  little  later  their  adven- 
turous canoes  swept  silently  beneath  the  shadow  of  those 
strange  rocks  guarding  the  eastern  bank,  which  had  been 
chiselled  into  such  oddly  sculptured  forms  by  wind  and  wave. 
On  ancient  French  maps  attempting  to  depict  these  regions, 
these  were  later  marked  as  "  The  Ruined  Castles."  Only  a 
short  distance  below  this  point,  just  above  where  the  city 
of  Alton  now  stands,  they  swept  swiftly  around  a  sharp  curve 
in  the  shore-line,  and,  as  Parkman  says,  were  "  suddenly  re- 
minded that  the  Devil  was  still  lord  paramount  of  this 
wilderness."  On  the  flat  face  of  a  high  rocky  bluff  were 
painted  in  red,  black,  and  green  a  pair  of  hideous  monsters, 
such  as  could  only  be  conceived  within  the  brain  of  savages 
—  each  "as  large  as  a  calf,  with  horns  like  a  deer,  red  eyes, 
a  beard  like  a  tiger,  and  a  frightful  expression  of  countenance. 
The  face  is  something  like  that  of  a  man,  the  body  covered 
with  scales,  and  the  tail  so  long  it  passes  entirely  around  the 
body,  over  the  head,  and  between  the  legs,  ending  like  that 
of  a  fish."  This  is  the  description  given  by  the  horrified 


46  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Jesuit,  but  his  later  drawing  of  the  two  monsters  has  unfor- 
tunately been  lost.  That  such  paintings  were  there,  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  although  as  early  as  1699,  when  St.  Cosme 
saw  them,  they  were  already  almost  completely  effaced. 
Douay  and  Joutel  also  mention  them,  although  then  the 
colors  had  doubtless  greatly  faded,  the  former  thinking  them 
not  at  all  terrifying.  The  rock  upon  which  they  were 
painted  has  of  late  years  been  partially  quarried  away,  but 
is  still  of  considerable  size,  and  impressive  when  viewed  from 
the  river  below. 

These  earliest  voyagers  had  scarcely  recovered  from 
their  shock  at  this  sight,  when  they  were  suddenly  plunged 
into  a  real  peril.  A  perfect  torrent  of  yellowish  mud  gushed 
furiously  forth  into  the  quiet  blue  of  the  Mississippi,  threat- 
ening to  overwhelm  their  frail  canoes,  and  compelling  them 
to  skirt  the  eastern  shore  closely  for  safety.  It  bore  down  in 
its  tumultuous  course  huge  masses  of  driftwood,  including 
entire  uprooted  trees,  its  invading  current  sweeping  directly 
across  the  broad  stream,  on  which  they  had  travelled  so  long 
in  security.  This  was  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  where  that 
turbulent  and  muddy  river,  descending  through  a  vast  desert 
of  prairie,  poured  its  swollen  floods  into  the  keeping  of  its 
more  gentle  sister,  discoloring  its  waters.  "  I  never,"  writes 
Marquette,  "  saw  anything  more  terrific."  Yet  they  es- 
caped all  injury,  and  held  bravely  on  their  course  southward, 
finding  the  current  of  the  river  ever  more  troublesome  and 
swift  from  this  uniting:  of  the  two  streams.  With  wondering 

o  o 

eyes,  yet  unseeing  of  the  marvellous  future,  these  daring  ex- 
plorers, tossing  in  their  frail  bark  canoes,  swept  past  the  site 
of  the  coming  city  of  St.  Louis,  as  well  as  the  spot  where  Kas- 
kaskia  was  to  stand,  and  yet  later,  marvelling  still  at  every 
new  discovery,  discerned  on  their  left  the  mouth  of  that 
stream  already  visited  by  La  Salle  and  to  which  the  Iro- 
quois  had  given  the  name  Ohio,  "river  of  beauty." 

Day  following  day,  the  intrepid  little  party  pressed  steadily 


THE  FIRST  EXPLORERS  47 

southward.  The  river  broadened  almost  into  an  inland  sea, 
the  marshy  shores  became  buried  beneath  dense  masses  of 
cane,  so  as  to  hide  their  outlines,  the  sun  glowed  through  the 
hazy  air  with  stifling  heat,  while  myriads  of  mosquitoes  af- 
forded them  little  peace  either  by  night  or  day.  They  floated 
slowly  with  the  current,  crouching  beneath  the  grateful 
shade  of  small  sails  hoisted  to  aid  their  progress,  their 
wearied  eyes  eagerly  marking  each  peculiarity  of  the 
passage.  Occasionally  they  met  with  Indians  of  different 
tribes,  some  of  whom  threatened  to  attack,  but  kind  words 
won  safe  passage,  and  the  zealous  Jesuit  found  means  to 
preach  to  them,  in  hopes  of  saving  some.  Just  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  the  travellers,  at  their  night-camp, 
held  council  together  regarding  what  further  course  to 
pursue.  They  determined  they  had  already  proceeded  far 
enough  southward,  for  they  had  discovered  the  one  impor- 
tant fact  underlying  their  early  purpose  of  exploration:  the 
Mississippi  —  which  they  called  the  Colbert  —  beyond  doubt 
discharged  its  mighty  waters  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Fear- 
ful of  the  Spaniards,  whom  they  believed  had  control  of 
that  lower  country,  they  finally  resolved  on  an  immediate 
return  to  Canada,  with  a  report  of  their  discoveries  for  the 
French  authorities. 

They  began  their  upward  voyage  the  I7th  of  July.  It 
was  a  hard  task,  in  which  all  took  incessant  part.  In  the 
stifling  heat  of  that  southern  midsummer,  pressing  steadily 
against  the  fierce  sweep  of  the  mighty  current,  "  toiling  all 
day  under  the  parching  sun,  and  sleeping  at  night  in  the  ex- 
alations  of  the  unwholesome  shore,"  they  won  their  slow  and 
painful  passage  northward.  Exhausted  by  the  strain,  his 
naturally  delicate  health  weakened  by  continual  exposure, 
Marquette  suffered  an  attack  of  severe  dysentery.  Unable  to 
assist  in  the  labor,  he  could  only  lie  helpless  in  the  bottom  of 
the  narrow  canoe,  praying  fervently  to  the  Virgin  for  strength, 
while  day  after  day,  week  following  week,  his  companions 


48  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

battled  with  the  current.  It  was  in  this  stress  they  finally 
attained  the  mouth  of  the  river  Illinois,  and,  following  the 
advice  of  a  friendly  Indian,  entered  its  peaceful  waters.  Here 
the  sweep  of  the  current  proved  far  gentler,  the  waters  about 
them  more  placid,  while  on  either  side,  amid  dark  forests  and 
sunny  prairies,  were  seen  vast  herds  of  buffalo  and  deer. 
They  were  now  in  the  very  heart  of  Illinois  as  it  appeared 
in  all  the  virgin  beauty  of  the  wilderness  in  Summer-time. 
The  prairies  were  abloom  with  rarest  coloring,  the  wide  val- 
ley, stretching  on  either  side  back  to  the  far-away  bluffs,  was 
green  with  waving  grasses,  the  silvery  waters  about  them 
reflected  back  the  overarching  blue  of  the  cloudless  sky.  It 
was  as  if  these  weary,  toil-worn  voyagers  wandered  through 
some  forgotten  corner  of  Paradise.  And  the  good  father 
wrote  gratefully,  "  We  have  seen  nothing  more  beautiful." 

Well  up  the  river,  probably  at  the  Peoria  village  beside  the 
strait,  they  discovered  their  first  natives,  and  finally  made  halt 
at  a  spot  which,  later,  became  well  known  in  the  story  of  the 
West.  This  was  upon  the  western  bank,  where  the  meadows 
now  lie  between  the  present  village  of  Utica  and  the  river, 
about  seven  miles  below  the  city  of  Ottawa.  Here  was  the 
principal  village  of  the  Illinois  Indians,  called  by  them  Kas- 
kaskia  —  a  name  later  applied  to  another  locality  on  the 
Mississippi,  at  the  mouth  of  a  river  bearing  a  similar  name. 
The  town  consisted  at  that  time  of  seventy-four  lodges. 
Each  of  the  lodges  contained  several  families,  and  they  were 
spread  out  for  a  considerable  distance  both  up  and  down  the 
river  bank.  Here  the  explorers  were  received  with  the 
utmost  kindness,  but  any  long  delay  was  impossible,  in  spite 
of  Marquette's  zealous  desire  to  convert  the  savages.  Guides 
were  procured,  and  amid  earnest  promises  from  the  Jesuit  of 
an  early  return,  the  little  band  again  turned  their  battered 
prows  up  stream  toward  distant  civilization.  One  chief  with 
several  younger  warriors  accompanied  them.  Following  the 
Illinois  and  the  Des  Plaines  Rivers,  they  made  portage  to 


THE  FIRST  EXPLORERS  49 

the  Chicago,  thus  reaching  Lake  Michigan,  then  known  as  the 
Lake  of  the  Illinois.  Saying  farewell  on  the  lovely  prairie 
where  Chicago  stands,  and  following  the  western  shore-line 
of  the  lake,  they  finally  attained  to  Green  Bay  the  latter  part 
of  September,  having  been  absent  four  months,  and  having 
travelled  a  distance  of  more  than  twenty-five  hundred  miles 
in  their  frail  canoes. 

Great  as  was  this  achievement,  its  sequel  was  the  loss  of  a 
most  valuable  life.  Joliet,  after  lingering  at  Sainte  Marie  to 
write  his  report  and  prepare  a  map,  departed  eastward  to 
tell  his  story  to  Frontenac.  Just  before  reaching  Montreal, 
his  canoe  was  overturned  in  the  foaming  waters  of  the  Sault 
St.  Louis,  his  papers  were  lost,  and  two  of  his  men  and 
an  Indian  boy  were  drowned,  he  himself  remaining  uncon- 
scious for  hours.  Nevertheless,  he  was  received  with  joy,  a 
Te  Deum  was  chanted  in  the  Cathedral,  and  he  was  later 
given  the  island  of  Anticosti  as  a  reward  for  his  toil.  But 
Marquette  remained  all  that  Winter  and  the  Summer  fol- 
lowing, seriously  sick  with  his  malady  in  that  dismal  station 
at  Green  Bay,  the  mission  of  St.  Fra^ois  Xavier.  His  one 
prayer  during  all  these  months  was,  that  he  be  given  strength 
to  return  with  his  message  of  salvation  to  the  waiting  Illinois. 
At  last,  when  Autumn  came,  he  received  orders  from  his 
Superior,  and  departed  on  his  desperate  trip,  although  far 
from  well.  He  left  Green  Bay  the  twenty-fifth  of  October, 
1674.  Two  engages  —  Pierre  Porteret,  and  Jacques  —  were 
his  sole  white  companions.  Some  Pottawattomies  and  a  few 
Illinois  Indians,  whom  they  met  on  the  way,  completed  the 
party,  there  being  ten  canoes  in  all. 

They  followed  the  east  shore  of  Green  Bay,  and  at  the 
head  of  Sturgeon  Cove  made  portage  to  Lake  Michigan. 
It  was  already  November,  one  of  the  most  stormy  months  on 
these  inland  seas,  yet  it  was  not  in  Marquette  to  hesitate  be- 
fore physical  danger.  He  was  ever  in  the  hands  of  God. 
They  were  more  than  a  month  feeling  their  slow  way  south- 


50  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

ward  along  the  desolate  and  storm-lashed  shore  until  they 
arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River.  Snow  and  chilly 
wind  buffeted  them  continually.  It  was  a  deserted,  dreary 
spot,  wrapped  in  all  the  sombreness  of  Winter.  With  infinite 
labor  they  pushed  their  frail  canoes  through  the  ice  already 
coating  the  narrow  stream  for  about  two  leagues.  Here  Mar- 
quette  suffered  from  a  severe  hemorrhage,  and  the  party  were 
reluctantly  compelled  to  make  camp  on  the  frozen  earth  of  the 
river  bank.  To  press  on  farther  with  so  sick  a  man  was 
manifestly  impossible.  A  slight  distance  up  what  is  now 
known  as  the  South  Branch,  in  the  midst  of  a  dreary  desola- 
tion of  snow-clad  plain,  the  two  engages  built  a  rude  hut,  re- 
alizing that  they  must  remain  there  through  the  Winter. 

For  Marquette,  who  felt  that  he  must  now  be  fast  ap- 
proaching his  end,  the  time  passed  in  spiritual  exercises,  and 
prayers  that  he  might  be  spared  to  continue  his  work.  The 
others  hunted  with  success,  killing  buffalo,  deer,  and  tur- 
keys. Cold  as  the  weather  soon  became,  the  dreary  plains 
sheeted  with  snow,  with  ice  forming  half  a  foot  thick  on  the 
streams,  game  was  easily  procured.  A  camp  of  Illinois  In- 
dians was  within  two  days'  journey  of  them,  and  in  kindness 
these  savages  brought  them  some  corn  meal.  Eighteen 
leagues  away  to  the  northward,  two  adventurous  French 
traders  were  passing  the  Winter.  One  was  the  noted  coureur 
de  bois,  Pierre  Moreau,  better  known  as  La  Taupine,  his 
companion  being  called  the  Surgeon.  They  also  visited 
Marquette,  bringing  supplies,  and  aiding  him  in  every  way 
possible  in  such  a  wilderness. 

By  the  last  of  March  (as  he  firmly  believed,  in  direct  re- 
sponse to  prayer)  the  Jesuit  was  able  to  resume  his  toilsome 
journey.  On  the  thirtieth  the  little  company  left  their  miser- 
able hut,  which  already  had  been  invaded  by  a  sudden  rise  of 
the  river,  and  bore  their  light  canoes,  through  mud  and  water 
knee-deep,  across  the  portage  leading  to  the  Des  Plaines. 
Amid  the  ceaseless  rains  of  Spring  they  swept  down  the 


THE  FIRST  EXPLORERS  51 

surging  current,  past  leafless  woods  and  prairies  half  under 
water,  until  they  attained  the  broader  stream  of  the  Illinois, 
down  which  they  made  rapid  progress  toward  the  old  Indian 
town  on  the  Utica  meadows.  Here  Marquette  was  received, 
as  he  reported, "  like  an  angel  from  heaven,"  and,  instantly 
forgetting  all  his  physical  weakness  and  suffering,  with  Jesuit 
enthusiasm  he  passed  from  wigwam  to  wigwam,  telling  his 
story,  as  Parkman  says,  "of  God  and  the  Virgin,  Paradise  and 
Hell,  angels  and  demons."  Then  he  summoned  the  crowds 
to  a  grand  council,  that  he  might  instruct  them  in  the  myste- 
ries of  faith. 

That  gathering  must  have  formed  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able scenes  in  all  Western  history.  It  was  held  on  those 
great  meadows  stretching  between  the  river  bank  and  the 
present  village  of  Utica,  in  La  Salle  County.  Imagine  it,  if 
you  can  —  the  sweeping  plains,  beginning  to  show  green 
beneath  the  Spring  sun,  the  distant  ridge  of  darker  hills  ob- 
scuring the  horizon,  the  narrow  fringe  of  trees  along 
the  course  of  the  stream,  the  silvery  sparkle  of  the  wide 
river.  And  then  that  assemblage  in  the  centre  of  this  wilder- 
ness picture  —  Marquette  in  his  frayed  and  rusty  gown,  his 
pale  face  exhibiting  his  illness,  his  eyes  burning  with  fever,  his 
slender  frame  trembling  from  weakness  and  enthusiasm. 
Before  him,  in  a  vast  ring,  were  seated  five  hundred  chiefs 
and  old  men;  behind  them  stood  fifteen  hundred  youths  and 
warriors,  while  farther  back  still  were  grouped  all  the  women 
and  children  of  that  great  village.  Where  in  all  history  is 
there  another  such  a  sight  ?  And  Marquette  did  his  duty  as 
he  understood  it.  Upholding  before  them  four  large  pictures 
of  the  Virgin,  he  addressed  them  on  the  mysteries  and  duties 
of  Christianity,  exhorting  them  to  save  their  priceless  souls 
while  there  was  yet  time.  As  a  dying  man  to  dying  men  he 
made  fervent  appeal.  And  they  met  him  kindly,  beseeching 
him  to  remain  in  their  village  and  tell  them  more.  But  the 
Jesuit  knew  his  life  was  fast  passing  away;  that  some  other 


52  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

missionary  of  the  Cross  must  carry  on  this  mighty  work  he  had 
begun;  that  he  must  instantly  return  north  to  send  to  them 
a  brother  of  his  Order.  He  had  claimed  the  land  for  God, 
naming  his  mission  the  Immaculate  Conception;  he  had 
sown  the  seed;  it  was  his  purpose  now  to  discover  the  reaper. 

It  was  a  few  days  after  the  celebration  of  Easter  that  he 
departed,  a  large  concourse  of  Indians  voyaging  with  him  in 
their  canoes,  and  showing  him  a  new  route  by  way  of  the 
Kankakee.  At  St.  Joseph  he  left  them,  embarking  in  a 
frail  canoe,  accompanied  only  by  his  two  white  companions. 
They  set  out  to  reach  Michillimackinac,  and  shaped  their 
course  along  the  eastern  shore,  seeking  thus  a  more  peaceful 
passage.  All  about  them  was  the  fresh  beauty  of  the  Spring- 
time, yet  as  the  faithful  Pierre  and  Jacques  paddled  their 
boat  past  the  desolate  shores,  the  dying  Jesuit  lay  helpless 
in  the  canoe,  his  sight  already  dimmed,  his  small  strength 
rapidly  waning.  On  the  nineteenth  of  May  he  conceived 
that  his  hour  of  departure  was  indeed  at  hand,  and  as  they 
discovered  the  opening  of  a  little  river  in  the  shore-line,  re- 
quested his  companions  to  paddle  in  toward  the  bank.  Has- 
tily the  two  sorrowing  servants  erected  a  shelter  of  bark  on 
some  rising  ground  near  the  southern  bank  of  the  stream, 
and  bore  the  fast  dying  priest  there.  He  gave  solemn  di- 
rections regarding  his  burial,  asked  forgiveness  for  all  the 
trouble  he  had  ever  given  them,  administered  the  solemn 
sacrament  of  penitence,  and  "thanked  God  that  he  was  per- 
mitted to  die  in  the  wilderness,  a  missionary  of  the  faith  and -a 
member  of  the  Jesuit  brotherhood." 

That  night  he  bade  them  sleep  all  they  could,  pledging 
himself  to  call  them  in  time  of  need.  Three  hours  later  they 
heard  his  faint  voice  calling,  and  found  him  dying.  He  ex- 
pired, breathing  the  name  of  Mary,  his  dim  eyes  fas- 
tened on  a  crucifix  held  before  him.  The  two  sorrowing 
Frenchmen  dug  a  shallow  grave  in  the  sand  beside  the  hut, 
and  having  buried  his  emaciated  body,  and  raised  a  wooden 


THE  FIRST  EXPLORERS  53 

cross  over  it,  hastened  northward  with  their  sad  news.  In 
the  following  Spring  a  party  of  Kiskakon  Indians  carried  his 
bones  to  St.  Ignace,  where  they  were  again  buried  with  sol- 
emn ceremony  beneath  the  floor  of  the  little  mission  chapel 
of  Michillimackinac.  So,  in  the  savage  heart  of  that  wilder- 
ness where  he  had  labored  so  long,  and  not  for  earthly  re- 
ward, passed  away  this  discoverer  of  the  Illinois  country, 
this  truly  heroic  soldier  of  the  Cross,  Pere  Jacques  Marquette, 
in  his  thirty-ninth  year.  An  unfinished  letter,  describing 
his  last  visit  to  the  Illinois,  was  lately  found  at  the  College  of 
Ste.  Marie,  at  Montreal.  Particularly  interesting  does  it  be- 
come with  the  knowledge  that  it  was  doubtless  largely  writ- 
ten while  he  was  lying  sick  in  that  desolate  hut  within  the 
present  limits  of  Chicago. 


CHAPTER  IV 

LA  SALLE  AND  HIS  VOYAGEURS  IN  THE 
ILLINOIS  COUNTRY 

AMONG  all  those  French  names  connected  with  earliest 
Illinois  history  the  one  which  looms  largest  is  that  of 
Rene-Robert  Cavelier,  Sieur  de  la  Salle.  Whether  or  not, 
as  some  ably  contend,  he  was  the  first  European  to  visit  the 
head  of  the  great  lake,  and  to  attain  the  Mississippi  at  its  junc- 
tion with  the  Ohio,  even  penetrating  to  the  juncture  of  the  Des 
Plaines  and  the  Illinois  Rivers,  it  remains  certain  that  no 
other  in  his  century  had  so  much  to  do  with  the  destinies  of 
this  vast  inland  empire  of  wilderness.  As  early  as  1678  he 
describes  this  land  with  all  the  accuracy  of  an  eye-witness. 
In  now  dealing  with  his  life-work,  we  must  pass  but  lightly 
over  its  wider  scope  of  operation,  contenting  ourselves  with 
somewhat  careful  tracing  of  that  narrower  portion  directly 
appertaining  to  this  country  of  the  Illinois. 

Born  in  1643,  at  Rouen,  France,  the  son  of  a  wealthy  mer- 
chant, becoming  an  earnest  Catholic,  educated  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Jesuits,  he  came,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three, 
to  Canada,  to  seek  his  fortune  in  that  new  land.  From  his 
first  landing  in  1666,  his  imagination  had  been  kindled  by 
those  vast  leagues  of  untravelled  wilderness  stretching  west- 
ward beyond  the  uttermost  French  frontier,  and  in  1669  he 
cast  aside  all  restraints  of  property  and  civilization  to  devote 
his  entire  future  life  to  exploration  and  the  extension  of 
French  dominion.  His  is  a  story,  sad  and  heroic,  of  con- 
stant struggle,  not  only  against  the  inhospitable  wilderness, 
the  dangers  innumerable  of  unknown  forest  and  prairie, 
lake  and  river,  but  the  continual  conspiracy  of  enemies  in 

54 


LA  SALLE  IN  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRT         55 

Canada,  jealous  of  his  hard-earned  success.  A  weaker  man 
would  have  fallen  early  beneath  the  ever-increasing  burden, 
but  La  Salle  battled  on  grimly  to  the  end,  a  brave,  pathetic 
figure,  and  has  written  his  name  indelibly  across  the  heroic 
annals  of  the  West. 

It  was  in  October,  1679,  that,  so  far  as  can  be  positively 
ascertained,  La  Salle  first  set  foot  on  Illinois  soil.  The  spot 
was  somewhere  along  the  Lake  Michigan  shore,  within  the 
limits  of  the  present  county  of  Lake.  Let  us  note  what 
brought  him  there.  After  combating  obstacles  seemingly 
unsurmountable,  involving  the  necessity  of  a  personal  trip 
across  the  sea  to  the  French  court,  and  amid  labor  that  ap- 
pears incredible,  this  iron  man  of  energy  had  finally,  on  the 
Niagara  River,  constructed  a  small  vessel  of  forty-five  tons, 
which  was  christened  the  "Griffin,"  besides  gathering  to- 
gether the  necessary  crew  for  the  boat,  as  well  as  a  con- 
siderable company  to  assist  him  in  land  exploration.  His 
purpose  was  clear,  his  ideal  truly  a  great  one.  Had  he  been 
permitted  to  carry  it  out,  and  loyally  supported  in  his  plans 
by  the  Canadian  authorities,  it  would  doubtless  have  changed 
our  entire  Western  history.  It  was,  in  brief,  this  —  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  complete  chain  of  French  forts,  extending  from 
Lake  Ontario  to  the  distant  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  thus 
holding  firmly  and  for  ever  all  this  vast  inland  empire  be- 
neath the  sway  of  the  fleur  de  Us.  Frontenac  had  already 
been  established,  Niagara  begun,  Detroit  was  destined  soon 
to  follow,  and  now  this  intrepid  leader  plunged  out  into  the 
farther  wilderness  to  seek  a  suitable  site  along  the  Illinois. 
In  August,  1679,  the  voyagers  set  sail,  their  little  vessel  the 
first,  other  than  frail  canoes,  to  navigate  the  waters  of  the 
great  lakes.  At  Green  Bay  the  "  Griffin  "  was  sent  back 
eastward,  under  her  captain,  with  a  load  of  furs,  being  or- 
dered to  return  as  early  as  possible.  Then  La  Salle,  with 
his  few  chosen  companions,  embarked  in  canoes,  and  started 
southward  for  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph. 


56  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

His  was  a  motley  company  of  fourteen  men,  crowded 
within  the  narrow  confines  of  four  canoes  deeply  laden  with 
tools,  merchandise,  and  arms.  Of  these,  ten  were  Canadian 
voyageurs,  one  a  Mohegan  Indian  hunter;  the  others,  priests 
of  the  gray  robe,  the  Recollet  friars,  Louis  Hennepin,  Gabriel 
de  la  Ribourde,  and  Zenobe  Membre.  The  weather  proved 
exceedingly  stormy,  the  lake  rough;  savages  disturbed  them 
in  their  night-camps  along  the  shore,  and  their  progress  was 
slow  and  full  of  constant  peril.  For  several  days  they  were 
unable  to  proceed  at  all.  It  was  thus  they  reached  the  limits 
of  Illinois,  and  their  first  night  upon  the  soil  proved  a  memo- 
rable one.  A  heavy  east  wind  lashed  the  waters  into  madness, 
and  toward  the  close  of  day  fairly  hurled  their  frail  cockle- 
shells upon  the  beach.  No  sooner  were  they  safely  ashore 
than  they  discovered  undoubted  evidence  of  Indian  presence. 
A  guard  was  set,  but  during  the  night,  while  the  careless  sen- 
tinel screened  himself  from  the  floods  of  cold  rain,  a  party  of 
Outagamies  crept  close  upon  them  under  cover  of  the  bank, 
from  whence  they  scanned  the  sleepers  for  some  time  unob- 
served. Challenged  at  last,  they  came  reluctantly  forward, 
pretending  friendship,  but  in  the  early  dawn  numerous 
thefts  were  discovered.  There  was  but  one  thing  to  do,  and 
La  Salle  did  it.  Seizing  upon  a  young  warrior  as  hostage, 
he  marched  boldly  forth  to  the  chief  and  demanded  return  of 
all  the  goods  taken,  threatening  otherwise  to  immediately 
kill  his  prisoner.  TSe  Indians,  confident  of  their  strength, 
prepared  to  fight.  It  was  a  moment  of  intense  strain.  Three 
Flemish  friars  and  eleven  Frenchmen,  guns  in  hand,  stood 
desperately  at  bay  before  one  hundred  and  twenty  yelling 
savages.  Yet  neither  party  ventured  to  commence  the  at- 
tack, and  finally  substantial  justice  was  achieved  by  means 
of  a  parley,  and  the  restoration  of  most  of  the  articles  stolen. 

Once  free  from  this  trouble,  La  Salle  pushed  resolutely  on, 
passing  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago,  and  skirted  the 
desolate  sand-dunes  until  he  at  last  attained  the  entrance  to 


LA  SALLE  IN  THE  ILLINOIS  CQUNTRT         57 

the  St.  Joseph  River.  Here  he  expected  to  be  joined  by  an- 
other party  of  twenty  men,  under  command  of  his  lieutenant, 
Henri  de  Tonty,  who  had  been  ordered  to  proceed  down  the 
eastern  shore  from  Michillimackinac.  The  company  waited 
twenty  days  before  the  latter  made  appearance,  busying 
themselves  meanwhile  by  the  erection  of  a  rude  log  fort. 
Considerable  more  time  was  wasted  waiting  for  the  arrival  of 
several  of  Tonty's  men,  who  had  become  lost  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  still  more  in  daily  expectation  of  the  return  of  the 
missing  "  Griffin."  No  sail  gladdened  the  eye  of  the  discour- 
aged commander  along  that  desolate  expanse  of  inland  sea. 
Somewhere,  tossed  on  the  stormy  waves  of  upper  Michigan, 
his  little  vessel  of  adventure  had  met  her  fate,  leaving  the 
wayfarers  utterly  alone  amid  those  leagues  of  wilderness.  Of 
this  La  Salle  could  not  then  know,  but  he  dared  delay  his  ad- 
vance into  the  interior  no  longer.  Already  ice  was  forming 
on  the  streams,  and  would  soon  block  the  passage. 

December  3,  the  party,  numbering  twenty-nine  French- 
men and  the  Indian  Le  Loup,  reembarked  in  eight  canoes, 
poling  these  with  great  labor  through  the  floating  ice  of  the 
St.  Joseph  as  far  as  the  present  city  of  South  Bend,  Indiana. 
Here,  after  La  Salle  had  been  lost  in  the  woods  all  of  one 
bitter  Winter  night,  they  finally  discovered  the  dim  Indian 
portage  leading  across  to  the  Kankakee,  some  three  miles 
distant.  It  ran  across  a  desolate  snow-drifted  plain,  along  a 
marshy  path,  past  deserted  Indian  lodges.  On  the  way,  La 
Salle's  life  was  attempted  by  a  mutinous  follower.  Finally, 
they  came  to  a  dark,  lazy  current,  across  which  a  tall  man 
might  easily  step,  and  which  ran  twisting  like  a  snake  among 
the  rushes.  Here  they  set  their  light  canoes  afloat,  and  for  a 
considerable  distance  toilfully  worked  their  way  down  the 
narrow,  turgid  stream  through  a  confusing  labyrinth  of 
swamp,  on  every  hand  a  wilderness  of  morass  and  rushes. 
As  they  thus  crept  into  what  is  now  Illinois  territory,  the  scene 
about  them  began  rapidly  to  change.  Ranges  of  higher  and 


5 8  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

densely  wooded  hills  appeared  close  beside  the  bank,  while 
as  they  mounted  these  rocky  bluffs,  the  eye  looked  out  afar 
over  a  vast  sea  of  rolling  prairie,  with  distant  glimpses  at 
herds  of  grazing  buffalo  and  deer.  With  anxious  eyes  for 
ever  scanning  the  banks  on  either  side,  they  turned  the  prows 
of  their  canoes  into  the  Illinois  River,  floated  slowly  past  the 
present  beautiful  site  of  the  city  of  Ottawa,  pointing  out  to 
each  other  Buffalo  Rock,  which  rose  majestically  upon  their 
right.  A  short  distance  below,  the  river  was  divided  by  sev- 
eral islands,  and  stately  woods  guarded  the  shores  with  green. 
Here  they  paused,  gazing  with  awe  at  a  majestic  and  pe- 
culiar cliff,  crowned  with  vast  forest  trees,  which,  rising  sheer 
from  the  south  bank,  overhung  the  current  where  they  rested. 
Sweeping  beneath  these  gloomy  shadows,  suddenly  just  be- 
fore them,  in  front  of  where  Utica  now  stands,  appeared  a  vast 
assemblage  of  Indian  lodges  covering  the  entire  northern 
shore  (Hennepin  tells  us  numbering  460),  each  fitted  to  shel- 
ter several  families.  But  they  were  silent  and  deserted  of 
inhabitants,  a  lonely  sight  enough  in  the  heart  of  such  drear 
desolation.  The  tribes  were  absent  on  their  Winter  hunt, 
and  that  Jesuit  missionary  whom  Marquette  had  sent  had 
retired  to  Wisconsin. 

Borrowing  thirty  minots  of  corn  from  out  a  hidden  store 
found  in  the  earth,  La  Salle  again  embarked  his  men,  and  the 
voyage  was  resumed.  On  New  Year's  day  they  landed  to 
hear  mass  and  wish  each  other  a  happy  year,  and  four  days 
later  the  prows  of  their  venturesome  canoes  entered  that 
wider  expanse  of  water  now  known  as  Peoria  Lake,  making 
their  way  along  the  northern  shore-line  and  through  the 
straits  until  they  reached  the  present  site  of  the  city  of 
Peoria,  where  they  established  night-camp,  seeing  nothing 
to  alarm  them  but  some  distant  spirals  of  smoke.  The  next 
morning  at  nine  o'clock,  having  attained  that  point  where 
the  waters  again  narrowed  into  a  river,  they  discovered 
eighty  Illinois  wigwams,  some  appearing  on  opposite  sides 


LA  SALLE  IN  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRT         59 

the  stream.  Not  knowing  what  to  expect,  La  Salle  instantly 
prepared  for  war.  Ordering  his  startled  men  to  throw  aside 
their  paddles  and  take  up  their  guns,  the  little  flotilla  swept 
swiftly  down  on  the  current  toward  the  surprised  savages, 
who  stood  awaiting  them,  arms  in  hand.  On  touching  land, 
La  Salle  instantly  leaped  ashore,  Tonty  on  his  left,  his  armed 
Frenchmen  pressing  close  behind  him.  This  act  of  audacity 
won;  two  chiefs  approached  their  visitors,  bearing  the  peace- 
pipe,  and  the  council  which  followed  resulted  in  pledges  of 
mutual  friendship.  But  the  trouble  was  not  yet  over  —  the 
savages  strenuously  objected  to  his  plans,  as  they  were  pres- 
ently outlined  to  them;  they  desired  no  French  fort  erected 
in  their  country,  nor  did  they  wish  the  white  men  to  proceed 
any  farther  south  on  their  proposed  exploration  of  the  Missis- 
sippi; moreover,  they  considered  the  Canadian  French  as 
allies  of  the  Iroquois,  who  were  their  most  cruel  enemies. 
For  several  days  of  council,  peace  and  war  balanced  on  al- 
most even  scales,  but  at  last  La  Salle  won,  by  pledging  him- 
self to  defend  their  village  against  all  Iroquois  raiders.  Yet 
hardly  had  this  result  been  accomplished  when  the  sorely 
harassed  leader  was  compelled  to  face  serious  mutiny  among 
his  own  followers.  In  the  darkness  of  night,  frightened  by 
wild  Indian  stories,  six  men,  among  them  his  two  best  car- 
penters, deserted  into  the  woods,  doubtless  intending  to  join 
those  vagabond  hunters  who,  even  at  that  early  day,  were  be- 
ginning to  appear  in  Indian  villages.  Others  of  his  little 
company  sought  to  poison  him,  hoping  thus  to  escape  from 
iron  discipline,  while  back  from  distant  Canada  news  drifted 
across  the  weary  leagues  of  forest  that  scheming  enemies 
were  eagerly  seeking  to  overthrow  his  cherished  plans  and 
counteract  his  influence  with  those  in  authority. 

Feeling  his  absolute  helplessness  while  thus  remaining 
exposed  within  the  Indian  camp,  La  Salle  now  began 
the  erection  of  a  small  fort.  The  exact  site  selected  yet 
remains  uncertain,  but  it  was  probably  situated  on  the 


60  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

eastern  side  of  the  river,  about  two  hundred  yards  from 
the  bank  as  then  existing,  and  a  short  distance  below  the 
outlet  of  the  lower  lake.  From  Hennepin's  description,  it 
stood  upon  a  low  hill  or  slight  eminence,  having  a  deep  ravine 
on  either  side,  with  lower  ground,  inundated  at  high  water, 
lying  directly  in  front.  A  ditch  was  excavated  across  the 
rear,  running  between  the  two  ravines,  thus  leaving  the  hill 
nearly  square  in  form.  An  embankment  of  earth  was  thrown 
up  along  each  side,  the  declivities  being  sloped  sharply  down 
to  the  lower  ground  beneath.  These  were  further  guarded 
against  Indian  assault  by  chevaux-de-frise,  while  a  palisade 
of  logs,  some  twenty-five  feet  high,  but  unstrengthened  by 
bastions,  was  firmly  planted  around  the  whole.  Within  this 
primitive  enclosure  the  men  were  lodged  in  small  huts  built 
at  the  angles  to  somewhat  strengthen  them;  La  Salle  and 
Tonty  shared  together  tents  near  the  centre;  another  similar 
structure  was  erected  for  the  use  of  the  three  friars;  while 
the  blacksmith  had  a  special  shed  for  the  shelter  of  his 
forge,  and  there  was  a  magazine.  Such  was  Fort  Creve- 
coeur — Broken  Heart  —  the  first  fort  ever  built  in  the  Illinois 
country,  and  the  fourth  in  that  long  chain  projected  to 
extend  from  Montreal  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Not  for  one  moment  did  this  frontier  leader  permit  any 
idleness  to  sap  the  spirits  of  his  men.  No  sooner  was  the 
fort  completed,  than  they  were  immediately  employed  at  the 
construction  of  a  vessel  of  forty  tons  with  which  to  explore 
the  lower  Mississippi.  Seeking  to  inspire  the  others  with 
some  of  his  personal  enthusiasm,  La  Salle  worked  beside 
them  with  his  own  hands,  cutting  the  heavy  logs  into  planks 
with  a  whip-saw.  By  the  first  of  February  their  task  was  half 
accomplished.  A  little  later  he  despatched  an  expedition  of 
three  men  —  the  priest  Hennepin,  with  two  voyageurs,  Michel 
Accau  and  Le  Picard  du  Gay  —  to  explore  the  Mississippi 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  northward.  They  never  again 
returned  to  the  Illinois  country,  being  captured  by  the  Sioux 


LA  SALLE  IN  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRT         61 

in  what  is  now  Minnesota,  and  finally  taken  to  Canada  by 
their  French  rescuers,  where  the  friar  wrote  a  deeply  inter- 
esting, but  hardly  veracious,  account  of  their  many  adven- 
tures and  discoveries.  Hennepin,  hesitating  to  undertake 
so  hazardous  a  trip,  was  finally  persuaded  into  it  by  the 
advice  of  his  brother  friars. 

Two  days  after  these  men  had  disappeared  from  the  little 
fort,  floating  down  the  gleaming  river  into  the  mystery  below, 
La  Salle  also  departed.  Despairing  of  the  safety  of  the 
"  Griffin  "  and  the  coming  of  necessary  supplies,  with  five 
men  —  the  Mohegan,  Hunault,  La  Violette,  Collin,  and  D'Au- 
tray  —  as  his  companions,  he  started  back  across  the  broad 
intervening  wilderness  in  desperate  effort  to  procure  another 
outfit  in  far-away  Canada.  He  left  Crevecoeur  under  com- 
mand of  Tonty,  who  had  remaining  with  him  there  "  three 
honest  men  and  twelve  plotting  knaves "  with  whom  to 
maintain  French  ascendency  in  the  Illinois.  The  story 
of  that  terrible  trip  eastward  cannot  be  retold  here  in 
any  detail.  The  Winter  had  been  unusually  severe,  the 
streams  were  yet  ice-bound,  sufficiently  strong  to  withstand 
the  advance  of  their  canoes  while  not  thick  enough  to 
upbear  the  weight  of  a  man.  Unable  to  desert  the  canoes  by 
means  of  which  La  Salle  intended  to  send  back  corn,  knee- 
deep  in  half-melted  snow  they  dragged  their  boats  through 
the  dreary  woods  for  more  than  fifteen  miles,  until  they 
finally  discovered  a  current  sufficiently  rapid  to  keep  the 
stream  clear.  Launched  again,  they  were  constantly  blocked 
in  their  passage  upward  by  masses  of  wedged  ice,  compelling 
continual  portage.  Cold  rain  fell  in  torrents,  while  the  tem- 
perature remained  so  low  as  to  freeze  their  clothing  stiff  upon 
them.  So  severe  was  one  blinding  snowstorm  as  to  involve 
a  three  days'  halt.  Ten  days  of  severe  exertion  and  terrible 
privation  were  spent  in  travelling  the  distance  from  Peoria 
Lake  to  Buffalo  Rock, —  a  distance  we  now  pass  over  by  rail 
in  less  than  three  hours. 


62  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

In  the  course  of  their  advance,  the  Indian  chief  Chacha- 
gouessiou  was  met  with  and  a  council  held,  at  which,  the 
savage  presenting  them  with  a  boat-load  of  corn,  two  of  the 
Frenchmen  were  sent  back  to  Crevecceur  in  charge  of  it. 
The  others,  with  the  single  canoe,  left  them,  pressed  on  up 
the  river  through  the  thickening  ice  until,  at  last,  they  could 
proceed  in  that  way  no  longer.  Hiding  their  boat  on  what 
has  since  been  named  Treat's  Island,  just  above  the  junction 
of  the  Du  Page  and  Illinois,  they  started  out  afoot.  Bearing 
their  load  of  supplies,  they  plunged  through  a  great  marsh 
until  they  came  out  on  the  banks  of  the  Little  Calumet  River. 
Here  with  great  difficulty  a  raft  was  constructed,  but  it 
lacked  buoyancy,  and  they  crossed,  standing  deep  in  the  icy 
water.  A  similar  experience  met  them  at  the  Grand  Calumet 
Lake,  but  at  last  the  strugglers  came  forth  upon  the  sand  of  the 
shore.  At  Fort  Miami,  two  Frenchmen  —  La  Chapelle  and 
Le  Blanc  —  were  found,  and  what  little  news  they  possessed 
was  bad;  the  "  Griffin  "  had  made  no  appearance  in  these 
waters,  and  rumors  had  reached  them  of  trouble  for  La 
Salle  in  Canada.  Ordering  these  men  to  report  to  Tonty  at 
Crevecoeur,  the  intrepid  leader,  with  the  others,  plunged 
into  the  forests  of  Southern  Michigan,  and  defying  storm, 
hunger,  and  threatened  Indian  attack,  made  straight  for  the 
Detroit.  In  all  this  heroic  struggle  La  Salle  led  the  way, 
breaking  the  drifted  path  for  the  others  to  follow.  That  he 
was,  at  this  time,  a  man  of  marvellous  physical  power  was 
plainly  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he  finally  reached  the  fort 
on  Niagara  River  in  good  condition,  although  four  of  his  men 
had  been  compelled  to  halt  by  the  way,  and  the  fifth  was  left 
to  recruit  his  strength  at  Niagara,  while  the  commander  alone 
pressed  steadily  forward  upon  his  imperative  mission.  He 
reached  Fort  Frontenac  April  21. 

Here  the  worst  possible  news  met  him.  The  "  Griffin  " 
had  never  returned;  the  fate  of  both  vessel  and  crew  was  a 
mystery  not  yet  solved;  a  consignment  of  goods,  worth  twenty- 


LA  SALLE  IN  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRr         63 

two  thousand  livres,  sent  him  from  France,  had  been  lost  by 
shipwreck;  while  two  coureurs  de  bois  overtook  him  with  a 
letter  from  Tonty,  back  in  the  Illinois  wilderness,  saying  that 
all  the  garrison,  excepting  four  or  five  men,  had  mutinied, 
destroyed  the  fort  with  its  stores,  and  fled. 

Such  a  condition  of  affairs,  such  utter  failure  of  long- 
cherished  plans,  would  have  crushed  most  men.  La  Salle's 
real  greatness  and  true  majesty  of  character  are  abundantly 
revealed  by  the  noble  manner  in  which  he  met  these  terrible 
reverses.  He  acted  at  once.  By  August,  surmounting 
every  obstacle  of  means,  every  opposition  of  enemies,  he  had 
succeeded  in  enlisting  twenty-five  new  men  with  La  Forest 
as  lieutenant,  obtained  another  outfit,  and  started  imme- 
diately back  to  the  relief  of  Tonty,  whose  faithfulness  to 
duty  now  remained  his  chief's  sole  abiding  hope  for  the 
future. 

Leaving  La  Forest  at  Michillimackinac  to  follow  him  as 
rapidly  as  possible  with  the  others,  and  the  store  of  supplies, 
La  Salle  chose  a  few  picked  men,  and  pushed  swiftly  for- 
ward.1 He  selected  the  old,  familiar  route,  leading  up  the  St. 
Joseph  and  down  the  Kankakee,  until  that  stream  united  with 
the  broader  Illinois.  The  time  was  the  last  of  November,  1680. 
At  last  his  eager,  speeding  canoes  rounded  the  last  obstruct- 
ing point  of  land  in  their  long  journey,  and  his  anxious  eyes 
again  looked  forth  on  that  plain  where  Utica  now  stands. 
So  changed  was  the  once  familiar  scene,  the  first  glimpse 
must  have  struck  him  like  a  blow.  Those  meadows  which 
he  had  left  little  more  than  six  months  previous  fairly  swarm- 
ing with  life,  and  thickly  crowded  by  Indian  dwellings,  were 
now  a  waste  of  desolation,  a  charnel-house  of  death,  strewn 
with  ashes,  and  whitened  by  human  skulls.  The  lodges  had 
been  burned,  and  on  their  blackened  poles  severed  heads 
impaled.  The  field  before  him  was  fairly  strewn  with  torn 

1  Those  chosen  included  D'Autray,  the  Surgeon,  You,  Tamisier,  Baron, 
Hunault,  Noel  Blanc,  and  the  Indian  La  Loup. 


64  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  mangled  corpses.  No  one  needed  to  tell  La  Salle  the 
cause  —  he  recognized  instantly  the  fiendish  handiwork  of  the 
revengeful  Iroquois.  The  blow  which  had  so  long  threat- 
ened had  at  last  fallen;  the  peaceful  Illinois  tribes  had  been 
smitten  as  by  a  flaming  breath. 

Stunned  and  horrified,  but  one  thought  held  him  firmly, 
What  had  become  of  Tonty  and  his  faithful  men  f  He  searched 
the  ghastly  corpses,  turning  them  over  one  by  one,  but  all 
were  alike  Indian.  Evening  came  before  this  horrid  task 
could  be  completed;  then  night  darkened,  and  the  solemn 
stars  brooded  over  that  savage  waste.  Crouched  about 
their  camp-fire,  in  the  midst  of  the  ghastly  dead,  La 
Salle  and  his  seven  remaining  companions  kept  dreadful 
vigil  through  a  lonely  night  of  surpassing  horror.  Wolves 
howled  and  fought  above  their  prey,  while  the  dense  shadows 
might  easily  serve  to  conceal  the  skulking  down  upon  them 
of  those  same  ruthless  savages  who  could  scarcely  be  far 
distant.  By  dawn,  the  leader,  dauntless  still  in  his  one  stern 
purpose,  had  reached  final  decision  —  defying  every  danger, 
he  would  continue  search  for  his  lost  comrades.  Near  the 
river  bank,  in  the  early  light,  he  discovered  six  posts  daubed 
red,  while  drawn  rudely  on  each  was  the  figure  of  a  man  with 
bandaged  eyes.  Believing  these  to  represent  six  French 
prisoners  yet  alive  in  the  hands  of  the  Iroquois,  La  Salle 
turned  his  canoes  down  the  river  in  relentless  pursuit. 

So  desperate  was  this  venture,  that,  in  hope  of  preserving 
some  lives,  he  again  divided  his  little  band.  Three,  the 
Surgeon,  Tamisier,  and  Baron,  he  hid  on  an  island,  with 
minute  instructions  for  their  safety.  The  baggage  was 
hastily  concealed  in  a  cleft  of  the  bluff,  and  then  with  four 
men  —  the  Mohegan  Indian,  D'Autray,  Hunault,  and  You  — 
he  set  forth  undaunted  on  his  perilous  adventure  in  a  single 
canoe.  Each  man  was  armed  with  two  guns,  a  pistol,  and  a 
sword.  All  alike  realized  that  if  once  discovered  by  the 
prowling  Iroquois,  ever  pitiless  enemies  of  the  French,  their 


LA  SALLE  IN  THE  ILLINOIS  COVNTRT         65 

certain  fate  would  be  death  by  torture.  Yet  none  hesitated; 
with  bated  breath  they  swept  past  the  silent,  deserted  shores, 
witnessing  everywhere  fresh  evidences  of  savage  cruelty. 
They  passed  camp  after  camp,  lying  deserted  and  desolate, 
while  just  across  the  river,  opposite  each  former  dwelling- 
place  of  the  Illinois,  was  now  the  more  recent  camping-spot 
of  pursuing  Iroquois.  The  facts  were  plain  to  be  read :  that  as 
the  one  had  hastily  retreated  in  canoes,  the  other,  without 
boats,  had  as  rapidly  followed.  Near  the  site  of  Crevecoeur 
they  discovered  merely  the  naked  keel  of  the  vessel  which 
had  been  so  long  building,  the  iron  nails  and  spikes  all  drawn. 
On  one  of  the  planks  had  been  written,  probably  by  one  of 
the  deserting  knaves,  "Nous  sommes  tons  sauvages."  The 
silence  of  death  reigned  everywhere;  earth  and  river,  wood 
and  plain,  all  about  them,  were  like  a  vast  graveyard.  Here 
and  there  along  the  banks  were  discerned  hideous  blackened 
figures  bound  upright  against  stakes,  but  examination  proved 
they  were  all  the  bodies  of  women  and  children.  Evidently 
the  warriors  had  fled  in  panic,  leaving  these  weaker  ones  to 
their  doom. 

The  Frenchmen  sought  everywhere,  tramping  through 
scenes  too  horrible  for  description,  yet  nowhere  was  there 
slightest  news  of  Tonty.  At  last  they  attained  the  Mississippi, 
and  pausing  only  long  enough  to  leave  a  message  there  for 
the  missing,  posted  in  a  conspicuous  place  —  a  painted  board 
nailed  to  a  tree, —  the  despairing  commander  again  turned  the 
prow  of  his  speeding  canoe  up  the  desolated  Illinois.  Night 
and  day  they  toiled  at  the  paddles,  taking  turns  at  the  labor, 
and  in  the  incredible  space  of  four  days  were  back  once  more 
at  the  great  Indian  village,  having  in  that  time  covered  a 
distance  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Night  after  night 
during  their  upward  travel  the  heavens  above  them  glowed 
resplendent  with  the  "Great  Comet  of  1680."  Parkman 
calls  attention  to  the  fact,  that  while  in  New  England  hamlets, 
even  at  cultured  Versailles,  it  was  looked  upon  with  super- 


66  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

stitious  awe,  here  in  this  far  wilderness,  with  death  in  form  of 
horror  on  every  side,  La  Salle  coolly  noted  it  down  as  a  mere 
scientific  curiosity.  Could  any  single  act  better  characterize 
the  true  greatness  of  the  man  ? 

To  remain  amid  the  ruins  of  that  destroyed  and  reeking 
village  for  the  return  of  the  victorious  Iroquois  would  have 
been  suicidal;  so,  gathering  all  his  men  once  more  together, 
La  Salle,  heart-sick  and  despairing,  reluctantly  began  the 
ascent  of  the  river.  They  departed  December  28,  and  on 
January  6,  1681,  reached  the  juncture  of  the  Des  Plaines 
and  Kankakee.  A  slight  distance  up  the  former  stream 
stood  a  rude  log  hut,  and  within  its  walls  was  found  the  first 
slight  evidence  that  Tonty  might  have  passed  that  way.  It 
consisted  of  a  block  of  wood  which  had  recently  been  cut 
with  a  saw.  This  small  discovery  kindled  new  hopes,  and 
leaving  D'Autray  and  the  Surgeon  here  to  guard  stores,  the 
others  pushed  on  with  lighter  hearts,  making  their  slow  way 
directly  overland  toward  the  fort  on  the  St.  Joseph,  where 
La  Forest  and  his  men  must  by  this  time  be  waiting  their 
appearance.  It  was  a  most  terrible  midwinter  trip.  Snow 
fell  constantly  in  blinding  storms,  but  too  soft  for  snow-shoes. 
They  could  only  plunge  desperately  through  it,  La  Salle 
ever  struggling  in  the  lead,  beating  a  path  for  the  others. 
Frequently  he  was  buried  to  the  waist,  but  there  was  no 
halting,  and  at  last  Fort  Miami  was  attained.  Here  they 
found  La  Forest,  but  he  had  received  no  tidings  of  the  lost 
Tonty.  The  brooding  wilderness  yet  hid  the  secret  of  his 
fate  from  the  distressed  commander. 

But,  whether  in  safety  or  danger,  there  was  no  rest  possible 
for  La  Salle.  Instantly  his  mind  began  planning  anew  for 
the  future.  He  must  relieve  the  guard  on  the  Des  Plaines; 
he  would  explore  the  Mississippi;  he  would  colonize  those 
harassed  Indian  tribes  of  the  Algonquin  family  about  some 
strong  French  fort  in  the  heart  of  the  Illinois  country,  in 
mutual  protection  against  further  inroads  by  the  Iroquois. 


LA  SALLE  IN  THE  ILLINOIS  COVNTRT         67 

With  him,  to  think  was  to  act,  and  as  it  chanced,  his  material 
was  even  then  at  hand.  The  Puritans  of  Massachusetts  had 
fought  out  King  Philip's  War,  and  a  band  of  Abenakis  had 
fled  for  refuge  to  this  very  region.  They  promised  to  follow 
him,  and  he  also  received  a  similar  pledge  from  the  Miamis. 
This  arrangement,  however,  was  scarcely  completed  when  La 
Salle  was  obliged  to  journey  again  to  the  St.  Lawrence  "  to 
appease  his  creditors  "  and  "  collect  his  scattered  resources." 
How  he  did  it  is  a  mystery  to  his  best  biographers;  yet,  in  spite 
of  two  years  of  disaster  in  these  western  wilds,  in  spite  of  debts 
bearing  interest  at  forty  per  cent,  in  spite  of  a  hundred 
scheming,  revengeful  enemies,  he  once  more  obtained  the 
necessary  means  for  a  new  voyage.  Meanwhile  the  en- 
couraging news  had  filtered  through  the  distance  to  him 
that  Tonty  and  Membre  were  safely  arrived  at  Michilli- 
mackinac,  where  they  anxiously  awaited  his  coming. 

They  were  all  together  again  on  the  St.  Joseph  in  Decem- 
ber, ready  for  fresh  adventure.  Determined  first  to  explore 
the  Mississippi,  so  as  to  more  thoroughly  outline  his  plans 
for  the  future,  La  Salle  chose  eighteen  New  England  Indians 
to  accompany  his  party  of  twenty-three  Frenchmen.  As 
many  of  these  insisted  upon  taking  their  women  along,  the 
entire  company,  when  finally  embarked,  numbered  fifty-four. 
The  frozen  river  rendered  the  Kankakee  route  impossible,  and 
Tonty  and  Membre  led  the  way  with  six  canoes  across  the 
lake  to  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River.  La  Salle,  with  the 
remainder,  followed  a  few  days  later.  New  Year's  day  was 
passed  on  the  site  of  Chicago.  It  was  the  middle  of  Winter, 
and  all  the  smaller  streams  were  solid  with  ice.  They  con- 
structed rude  sleds,  strapped  their  canoes  upon  them,  and, 
in  a  straggling  procession,  dragged  them  wearily  along  the 
shining  surface  league  after  league,  until  they  finally  discov- 
ered open  water  below  Lake  Peoria.  Here  they  embarked, 
and  on  the  6th  of  February,  1682,  found  their  way  into  the 
majestic  Mississippi. 


68  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Upon  the  details  of  this  trip,  extending  so  far  beyond 
Illinois  territory,  it  is  not  necessary  to  dwell.  Sufficient  to 
say,  it  extended  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  where  the 
entire  country  was  formally  laid  claim  to  in  the  name  of 
France,  in  the  month  of  April,  1682.  The  claim  was  the 
entire  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  a  magnificent  domain.  As 
a  well-known  historian  has  said:  "From  the  oil-spring  in 
Allegheny  County,  New  York,  to  the  dividing  of  the  waters 
of  Two  Ocean  Creek  in  Wyoming;  from  the  Wisconsin  lakes, 
where  the  wild  goose  nested  and  the  Sioux  ranged,  to  the 
tide-kissed  marshes  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  Louis  the  XIV 
now  reigned  supreme  by  virtue  of  the  work  of  Rene-Robert 
Cavelier,  Sieur  de  la  Salle."  Fortunately  for  American 
civilization,  no  other  Frenchman  his  equal  ever  found  way 
into  these  wilds  to  complete  that  gigantic  task  he  had  so  well 
outlined  and  begun.  Of  those  Frenchmen  accompanying 
him  upon  this  desperate  venture,  the  names  known  may  well 
be  preserved:  Membre,  Hunault,  La  Violette,  Creval,  Pere 
Zenobe,  Recollet  missionary,  Henri  de  Tonty,  Francois  de 
Boisrondet,  Gabriel  Barbier,  Jean  Bourdon,  Sieur  D'Autray, 
Jacques  Cauchois,  Pierre  You,  Gilles  Meucret,  Jean  Michel, 
Surgeon;  Jean  Mas,  Jean  Dulignon,  Nicholas  de  la  Salle, 
and  Pierre  Prudhomme. 

Few  words  are  necessary  to  tell  the  remainder  of  this 
strange  life-story.  In  July,  La  Salle  was  back  again  on  the 
Illinois,  and  upon  the  summit  of  Starved  Rock  built  a  fort, 
which  was  called  St.  Louis.  It  was  the  sixth  in  his  proposed 
chain.  Here  he  gathered  his  colony  of  Indians  —  Miamis, 
Shawnees,  Abenakis,  Mohegans,  and  Illinois,  nearly  fourteen 
thousand  all  told  —  and  here  he  granted  land  to  his  followers, 
as  he  probably  had  the  legal  right  to  do. 

But,  back  in  Canada,  his  numerous  enemies  were  not  idle. 
A  new  Governor  —  La  Barre —  had  succeeded  his  old  friend 
Frontenac,  and  was  opposing  La  Salle's  schemes  with  all  the 
power  of  his  high  office.  Finally,  in  desperation,  the  latter 


LA  SALLE  TAKING  POSSESSION  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI 
FROM  PAINTING  pv  CHARLOTTE 


LA  SALLE  IN  THE  ILLINOIS  COUNTRT        69 

left  his  colony  to  the  command  of  Tonty,  and  proceeded 
direct  to  France,  hoping  thus  to  better  his  fortunes. 

To  his  surprise  he  found  himself  famous.  He  was  pre- 
sented to  the  King,  who  listened  to  him,  and  was  persuaded. 
Four  ships  were  fitted  out  for  the  purpose  of  making  a 
permanent  settlement  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 
The  ambition  of  La  Salle  —  the  one  man  who  stands  conspic- 
uous in  the  New  France  of  his  day —  seemed  at  last  realized. 
Yet  the  fates  had  in  his  hour  of  triumph  tangled  the  lines  of 
his  life.  By  mistake,  the  fleet,  poorly  outfitted  and  manned, 
passed  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  landed  at  Matagorda 
Bay,  on  the  coast  of  Texas.  Here  the  ill-starred  colony 
languished  for  two  years,  at  which  time  they  were  almost 
exhausted  by  disease  and  death.  La  Salle  decided  to  push 
his  way  to  the  Illinois  country  in  search  for  assistance. 
Accompanied  by  a  few  companions,  he  started  on  this 
desperate  journey,  but  in  the  depths  of  that  wilderness, 
somewhere  on  the  banks  of  the  Trinity  River,  was  assassi- 
nated by  one  of  his  own  cowardly  men.  Seven  of  his  party 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  Illinois,  but  of  the  hapless  colony 
left  behind  all  perished.  The  date  of  La  Salle's  death  was 
March  19,  1687,  when  he  was  but  forty-three  years  of  age. 

Thus  perished  one  of  the  most  remarkable  explorers 
whose  names  live  in  history.  "  Never,'*  writes  Parkman, 
"under  the  impenetrable  mail  of  paladin  or  crusader,  beat 
a  heart  of  more  intrepid  mettle.  America  owes  him  an 
enduring  memory."  Illinois  especially  should  for  ever  do 
honor  to  his  name.  Whoever  reads  the  marvellous  story  of 
his  twenty  years'  toil  must  confess  his  greatness,  and  the 
power  of  that  ideal  which  held  him  firm.  His  life  and 
death  constitute  the  one  supreme  tragedy  of  the  Mississippi 
valley. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  FASCINATING    STORY  OF  TONTY 

A3AINST  the  dim  and  barren  background  of  that  seven- 
teenth century  struggle  amid  the  Illinois  wilderness, 
one  figure  stands  forth  conspicuous  like  a  hero  of  romance. 
Clad  in  burnished  breastplate  and  glittering  headpiece,  his 
hand  hard-gripped  upon  sword-hilt,  faithful,  loyal,  and  de- 
void of  fear,  soldier,  gentleman,  and  faithful  friend,  few 
indeed  are  the  characters  in  frontier  history  more  attractive 
than  Henri  de  Tonty. 

It  was  while  in  Europe  in  1678  that  La  Salle  was  first 
brought  in  contact  with  this  young  soldier,  who  from  that 
hour  was  destined  to  prove  his  closest  friend,  his  most 
trusted  associate  in  daily  peril.  An  Italian  by  birth, 
Tonty  had  been  an  officer  of  the  French  army,  a  protege  of 
the  Prince  de  Conti,  and  had  lost  one  of  his  hands  by  the 
premature  explosion  of  a  grenade  during  the  wars  in  Sicily. 
His  father,  who  had  been  Governor  of  Gaeta,  was  also  a 
financier  of  note,  having  devised  the  form  of  insurance 
now  known  as  Tontine.  A  man  yet  young  in  years,  of 
apparently  delicate  physique,  possessing  an  agreeable 
presence,  easily  making  and  retaining  friendships,  La  Salle 
again  and  again  in  his  letters  speaks  of  "his  honorable 
character,"  "  his  amiable  disposition,"  "  his  capability  for 
doing  things."  In  place  of  the  lost  member  he  wore  a  hand 
of  iron,  usually  covered  with  a  glove.  This  he  was  more 
than  once  compelled  to  use  to  good  purpose  when  Indians 
became  too  unruly  to  be  handled  by  mere  words.  La  Potherie 
records  that  not  knowing  the  secret  of  such  severe  blows  the 
savages  soon  regarded  him  as  a  "medicine"  of  the  first  order. 

7° 


THE  FASCINATING  STORT  OF  TONTT          71 

Plunging  into  the  backwoods  almost  as  soon  as  he  reached 
Canada,  the  remainder  of  Tonty's  life  was  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  American  frontier,  and  particularly  associated 
with  the  country  of  the  Illinois.  His  earlier  services,  under 
La  Salle,  have  already  been  mentioned.  It  is  upon  March 
2,  1680,  that  day  when  the  great  leader  left  him  in  com- 
mand at  Fort  Crevecceur,  that  he  first  stands  forth  separate 
and  distinct  in  history.  One  can  but  wonder  at  his  thoughts 
as  he  stood  there  on  the  frozen  shore  at  the  foot  of  Peoria 
Lake  in  that  far-off  lonely  day,  and  watched  La  Salle's  canoe 
fade  away  into  the  distance.  He  was  yet  hardly  a  frontiers- 
man, for  he  had  been  scarcely  more  than  a  year  upon  the 
border;  he  was  young,  ambitious,  trained  to  strict  obedience 
in  European  military  camps,  yet  now  he  was  left  entirely 
alone  to  command  this  uttermost  post  of  France,  with  league 
on  league  of  wilderness  stretching  about  on  every  side, 
unknown,  mysterious.  Just  above  the  little  fort,  on  the 
opposite  river  bank,  the  great  village  of  Illinois  Indians 
swarmed  with  suspicious  savages,  while  here  within  the  log 
walls  of  Crevecceur  mutiny  was  already  being  shown  openly 
before  him.  It  was  a  situation  desperate  with  peril,  despair- 
ing in  loneliness. 

He  had  with  him  only  fifteen  men  with  which  to  defend  his 
position  —  smiths,  ship-carpenters,  housewrights,  and  soldiers, 
besides  his  servant,  L'  Esperance,  and  the  two  Recollet  friars, 
Membre  and  Ribourde.  Most  of  these  were  already  openly 
dissatisfied,  while  to  make  matters  worse,  La  Salle  had 
unluckily  met  during  his  eastward  journey  on  the  St.  Joseph 
River  two  men  —  La  Chapelle  and  Leblanc  —  whom  he 
immediately  hurried  forward  to  join  Tonty.  They  arrived 
six  weeks  later,  bearing  a  tale  of  woe  and  disaster.  The 
"  Griffin  "  had  been  lost  at  sea,  and  La  Salle  ruined  beyond 
recovery.  This  story  they  poured  with  many  additions  into 
the  willing  ears  of  the  already  mutinous  garrison  at  Creve- 
coeur,  and  the  response  was  sudden  and  disastrous.  Tonty, 


72  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

accompanied  by  a  few  men,  departed  to  examine  and  fortify 
Starved  Rock,  according  to  orders  left  him  by  La  Salle.  No 
sooner  had  they  disappeared  from  sight  than  those  left  be- 
hind destroyed  the  fort,  stole  powder,  lead,  furs,  provisions, 
and  everything  else  portable,  and  deserted  into  the  wilderness 
leaving  no  trace  behind.  Among  them  all,  only  two  remained 
faithful  to  their  absent  leader,  the  young  Sieur  de  Boisrondet, 
scarcely  more  than  a  boy,  and  the  servant  L'Esperance. 
These  two,  escaping  from  the  mutineers,  hastened  with  the 
news  to  Tonty,  who  instantly  despatched  four  messengers 
by  two  different  routes  to  inform  La  Salle  of  this  new  disaster 
which  had  befallen  him.  This  left  with  Tonty,  in  addition 
to  the  two  above  mentioned,  only  Renault,  and  the  two 
Recollet  priests,  who  were  then  in  the  Indian  camp.  With 
these  he  took  up  his  abode  in  the  great  village  of  the  Illinois, 
in  the  midst  of  eight  thousand  Indians.  The  Spring  and 
Summer  passed  slowly,  while  they  thus  waited  anxiously  for 
the  return  of  La  Salle.  By  adroitness  and  firmness,  Tonty 
managed  to  disarm  the  suspicion  of  the  Illinois,  but  in  the 
meanwhile,  all  unknown  to  both  white  and  Indian,  a  storm 
was  gathering  in  the  East  which  would  soon  drench  these 
prairies  with  the  blood  of  its  victims.  This  was  an  outpour- 
ing of  the  ferocious  Iroquois,  who  had  crushed  the  Hurons, 
the  Eries,  with  others  along  the  great  lakes,  and  now  turned 
their  hungry  eyes  toward  the  Illinois  in  search  after  new 
victims.  Five  hundred  warriors,  moving  with  the  celerity  of 
demons,  swept  across  the  wide  waste  of  forest  and  prairie 
toward  their  intended  prey.  All  was  idle  repose  and  peace 
in  the  great  town  on  the  banks  of  the  Illinois.  Suddenly, 
like  a  clap  of  thunder  from  a  clear  sky,  came  news  of  the 
fierce  invaders.  A  wandering  Indian  hunter  brought  the 
earliest  warning  of  danger  to  the  Illinois  village,  and  in- 
stantly all  was  in  the  wild  confusion  of  fear.  Women 
snatched  their  children  and  fled  screaming;  warriors  rushed 
about,  nerving  themselves  for  the  coming  battle,  or  clustered 


THE  FASCINATING  STORT  OF  TO  NTT          73 

around  Tonty  and  his  little  band  of  Frenchmen,  openly 
accusingthem  of  conspiracy  with  the  ferocious  invaders.  That 
entire  night  the  camp  presented  a  hellish  spectacle,  in  the 
midst  of  which  the  helpless  Frenchmen  remained  in  constant 
deadly  peril  at  the  hands  of  those  affrighted,  half-crazed 
warriors.  Huge  bonfires  cast  their  red  glare  for  miles 
around,  while  frenzied  savages  circled  about  them  in  the 
war-dance.  At  dawn  the  scouts  came  in,  closely  followed  in 
their  retreat  by  the  advancing  Iroquois.  These  scouts  had 
perceived  among  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  a  chief  arrayed  in 
French  costume,  and  reported  that  it  was  La  Salle.  Instantly 
the  aroused  Illinois,  now  convinced  of  treachery,  rushed 
impetuously  upon  Tonty,  brandishing  their  gleaming  weap- 
ons, and  shrieking  madly  for  revenge.  In  order  to  save 
himself  he  promised  that  both  he  and  his  men  should  go 
forth  to  battle  with  them  against  the  enemy. 

In  the  early  dawn  they  crossed  the  river  in  their  canoes, 
and  spread  out  to  block  the  path  of  the  Iroquois,  now  swarm- 
ing forth  in  dense  columns  of  warriors  from  the  fringe  of 
woods  skirting  the  Vermilion.  Guns  began  to  crackle  along 
the  whole  line  of  combat,  which  soon  became  fiercely  engaged. 
Tonty,  noting  that  the  Illinois  were  largely  outnumbered,  and 
certain  to  be  defeated,  determined,  at  the  risk  of  his  own  life, 
to  go  forward  and  attempt  mediation.  It  was  a  daring 
venture,  but  alone  promised  hope  for  the  Illinois.  Dismiss- 
ing the  three  men  who  voluntarily  started  with  him,  throwing 
away  his  arms,  and  exposed  to  a  heavy  fire,  he  advanced 
alone,  holding  out  a  wampum  belt  as  a  sign  of  peace.  A 
hundred  yards  was  thus  passed,  and  he  came,  miraculously 
unhurt,  into  the  very  midst  of  that  frenzied  band,  who  were 
wild  with  rage  and  thirsting  for  his  blood.  For  an  awful 
instant,  deceived  probably  by  his  dark  complexion  and 
half-savage  dress,  they  supposed  him  an  Indian,  and  one 
savage  made  a  vicious  stab  at  his  heart.  The  blade  struck 
a  rib  and  was  turned  aside,  even  as  the  chief  discovered  his 


74  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

real  character,  and  interposed  to  protect  him  from  violence. 
Led  aside,  but  already  faint  from  loss  of  blood,  Tonty 
boldly  advanced  the  claim  that  the  Illinois  Indians  were 
under  French  protection,  and  that,  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
existing  between  that  nation  and  the  Iroquois,  they  should 
not  be  molested,  or  made  war  upon.  As  he  spoke  a  warrior 
snatched  his  hat,  and  held  it  aloft  upon  his  gun.  The  distant 
Illinois  seeing  it,  and  believing  that  he  had  been  killed, 
instantly  renewed  their  fire,  and  the  enraged  warriors  about 
him  nearly  broke  from  all  control.  Back  and  forth  among 
themselves  they  debated  in  their  anger  how  to  dispose  of 
their  helpless  victim,  even  lifting  his  hair  for  the  scalping 
knife,  while  he  was  again  seriously  wounded. 

At  last  he  succeeded  in  curbing  them  by  the  stern  declar- 
ation that  the  Illinois  tribes  were  twelve  hundred  strong,  and 
that  sixty  Frenchmen  were  present  to  assist  them.  This  state- 
ment was  at  least  partially  believed,  and  they  finally  de- 
spatched him  back  to  his  friends,  in  pretence  of  a  truce.  The 
older  warriors  commanded  the  firing  to  cease  and  then  Tonty, 
dizzy  from  loss  of  blood,  which  was  trickling  from  three 
wounds,  was  sent  staggering  back  across  the  open  plain, 
bearing  his  word  of  hopefulness  to  the  Illinois.  Encouraged 
by  this  message  of  peace  the  outnumbered  tribes  recrossed 
the  river  to  their  village,  but  were  closely  followed  by  their 
suspicious  enemies  as  far  as  the  bank.  Nor  did  the  latter 
make  any  long  delay  even  there.  Under  the  pretence  of 
hunting,  band  after  band  of  painted  Iroquois  warriors  swam 
the  intervening  stream,  and  soon  hung  in  threatening  clouds 
about  the  doomed  town,  their  shrill  cries  evidencing  their 
fiendish  determination  at  conquest.  Becoming  more  and 
more  alarmed  by  this  evidence  of  ill-faith  on  the  part  of  their 
treacherous  enemies,  the  Illinois  hastily  decided  on  flight. 
Setting  fire  to  their  lodges,  they  sprang  into  their  waiting 
canoes  and  hurried  down  the  river  to  rejoin  their  women  and 
children,  who  had  been  despatched  before,  leaving  Tonty  and 


THE  FASCINATING  STORr  OF  TONTT         75 

his  little  handful  of  helpless  Frenchmen  utterly  alone  amid 
the  smoking  ruins,  to  meet  the  inflowing  horde  of  baffled 
Iroquois. 

Immediately  their  fate  hung  suspended  in  the  balance. 
The  victorious  savages  constantly  vacillated  between  mad 
courage  and  pusillanimous  fear,  one  day  preparing  to  despatch 
Tonty  to  the  retreating  tribes  with  another  message  of  peace, 
the  next  threatening  him  with  death  and  torture  for  having 
deceived  them  regarding  the  number  of  warriors  among  the 
Illinois.  Out  of  all  this  turmoil  and  threatening,  one  fact 
at  last  became  plainly  evident  —  the  Iroquois  chiefs  feared 
arousing  the  displeasure  of  Count  Frontenac,  and  desired  to 
get  rid  of  these  French  witnesses  before  going  further  with 
their  bloody  work.  To  this  end  a  council  was  finally  called, 
and  Tonty  was  offered  six  packages  of  beaver  skins  if  he 
would  leave  the  country.  The  young  Italian  soldier  kicked 
their  present  away  with  scorn,  haughtily  demanding  in  turn 
that  they  leave  the  Illinois  tribes  alone,  and  return  in  peace  to 
their  own  country.  His  stern  words  of  rebuke  led  to  his 
expulsion  from  the  council,  and  the  following  day  the  enraged 
chiefs  drove  all  the  whites  forth  from  the  camp. 

Tonty  had  by  this  time  done  all  possible  to  avert  disaster. 
Repeatedly,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  and  the  lives  of  his  men,  he 
had  interfered  in  behalf  of  the  retreating  Illinois.  To  remain 
longer  amid  such  danger,  was  clearly  useless.  Realizing 
this,  the  little  party  of  whites,  six  in  number,  set  out  in  one 
wretched  bark  canoe  furnished  them,  and  departed  up  the 
river.  Scarcely  were  they  out  of  sight  of  the  rejoicing  Iro- 
quois when  their  boat  began  leaking  so  badly  they  were 
obliged  to  hastily  land  for  the  purpose  of  repairing  it.  While 
the  others  were  thus  working,  Father  Ribourde  strolled  away, 
breviary  in  hand,  across  the  meadows  for  a  few  moments' 
silent  meditation  and  prayer.  When  evening  came  he  had 
not  returned.  Tonty,  alarmed  at  his  long  absence,  accom- 
panied by  one  man  went  in  search.  They  found  no  sign  of 


76  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

the  aged  priest,  but  discovered  the  fresh  tracks  of  a  band  of 
prowling  Indians.  Still  hoping  anxiously  for  the  best,  they 
fired  guns  to  guide  him  back  to  the  camp  if  still  alive.  Later 
a  huge  fire  was  built  upon  the  bank  for  this  same  purpose, 
the  cautious  little  band  crossing  the  river  and  crouching  low 
in  the  shadows,  so  they  could  watch  unseen  from  the  other 
shore.  At  midnight  the  dark,  indistinct  figure  of  a  man 
hovered  around  the  distant  blaze,  then  many  more  joined 
him,  but  the  friar  was  not  among  them.  It  was  later  learned 
these  composed  a  prowling  band  of  Kickapoos,  who  had 
accidentally  met,  and  wantonly  murdered  the  inoffensive 
old  man,  then  in  his  sixty-fifth  year,  bearing  his  scalp  in 
boasting  triumph  to  their  village.  Somewhere  on  the  Illinois 
River  between  the  Fox  and  the  Des  Plaines  the  aged  mission- 
ary had  laid  down  his  life  in  martyrdom. 

Convinced  that  Ribourde  must  be  dead,  Tonty  and  his 
men,  giving  up  further  search,  proceeded  up  the  river.  Their 
craft  again  became  disabled,  and  was  finally  abandoned,  the 
party  pressing  forward  on  foot  toward  Lake  Michigan. 
Their  scant  provisions  became  exhausted,  and  for  days 
together  they  were  compelled  to  exist  on  roots  and  acorns. 
Tonty  fell  sick  with  fever,  while  Boisrondet  became  lost  for 
two  days,  and  as  they  pushed  on  northward  along  the  desolate 
west  shore,  the  cold  grew  more  intense  while  the  means  of 
subsistence  decreased.  All  would  have  perished  in  the  black 
forests,  had  they  not  discovered  a  few  ears  of  corn  and  some 
frozen  squashes  near  a  deserted  Indian  village.  Helped 
thus,  they  managed  to  stagger  blindly  forward,  and  by 
the  close  of  November  reached  the  camp  of  the  Pottawat- 
tomies  near  Green  Bay,  where  they  were  received  with 
kindness. 

Meanwhile,  relieved  of  their  hindering  presence,  horrible 
deeds  had  been  wrought  in  the  Illinois  country  by  the 
fiendish  Iroquois.  Tearing  open  the  graves  near  the  great 
village,  and  terribly  mutilating  the  dead  bodies,  which  were 


folio 


HENRI  DE  TONTY 

FROM    BAS-RELIEF    IN    MARQUETTE    BUILDING,     CHICAGO 


ceeded  up  the  river, 
/was  fip?'lw  "' 


THE  FASCINATING  STORT  OF  TONTY          77 

left  scattered  everywhere  across  the  prairie  as  prey  for  wolves, 
these  savage  demons,  yet  unsatiated  in  their  ferocity, 
started  down  the  river  in  pursuit  of  the  retreating  tribes. 
Day  after  day  the  two  —  the  pursued  and  the  pursuers  — 
pressed  southward,  the  one  on  water,  the  other  on  land,  an 
equal  distance  being  maintained  between  them.  Finally 
the  Iroquois  won  by  treachery  an  opportunity  for  the  striking 
of  a  deadly  blow.  They  pretended  a  desire  merely  to  drive  the 
Illinois  from  the  country,  not  to  destroy  them.  Deceived  by 
this  statement  the  allied  tribes  separated,  some  going  farther 
down  the  Mississippi,  others  crossing  to  its  western  bank. 
The  Tamaroas,  apparently  more  credulous  than  the  others, 
remained  encamped  near  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois.  Sud- 
denly the  Iroquois  swept  down  upon  them;  the  men  fled  in 
dismay,  while  women  and  children,  to  the  number  of  seven 
hundred,  fell  into  those  bloody,  clutching  hands.  That 
which  followed  is,  in  its  details,  too  horrible  for  record. 
Tortures,  butcheries,  burnings,  such  as  only  the  terrible 
Iroquois  could  perpetrate,  were  common  scenes  up  and  down 
the  banks  of  the  Illinois.  Some  evidences  of  their  horrid 
work  remained  when,  two  weeks  later,  La  Salle  passed  along 
that  way  in  his  fruitless  search  after  Tonty,  but  in  the  mean- 
time the  murderers  had  fled,  bearing  away  with  them  as 
slaves  all  those  captives  who  had  been  preserved  from  the 
torture.  Slowly,  as  returning  courage  crept  back  into  their 
chilled  hearts,  the  Illinois  came  creeping  again  into  their 
desolated  country,  even  reestablishing  themselves  in  their  old 
village,  along  those  meadows  which  now  front  Utica. 

Undismayed  by  all  the  peril  and  suffering  through  which 
he  had  already  been  called  upon  to  pass,  Tonty,  the  moment 
sufficient  strength  returned  to  his  body,  sought  communica- 
tion with  La  Salle,  and  an  opportunity  to  plunge  once  more 
into  the  depths  and  dangers  of  the  wilderness.  This  young 
European  soldier  already  felt  the  strange  spell  of  the  woods 
upon  him,  the  spirit  of  adventure  calling  him  back  to  peril 


7 8  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  hardship.  By  the  end  of  May,  1681,  these  two  comrades 
met  once  again  behind  the  log  palisades  at  Michillimackinac, 
told  each  to  the  other  their  disheartening  tales  of  disaster, 
and  then  sternly  set  to  work  to  plan  anew.  Paddling  their  frail 
canoes  a  thousand  miles  eastward,  they  held  audience  with 
Frontenac,  straightened  out,  as  best  they  could,  the  tangled 
threads  of  La  Salle's  finances  in  Quebec  and  Montreal,  and 
then  again  turned  westward,  their  heroic  faces  set  grimly 
toward  the  haunted  wilderness.  The  Summer  had  already 
waned  when  they  attained  the  shores  of  Huron  on  the  return 
passage,  and  week  after  week  their  laden  canoes  crept  slowly 
forward  along  the  lonely  banks,  by  desolate  ranks  of  bristling 
firs;  lake  and  forest,  forest  and  lake,  a  dreary  scene,  haunted 
ever  by  memories  of  horror.  At  last  the  wearied  prows 
found  rest  on  the  gravelled  shore  at  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Joseph,  and  La  Salle  and  Tonty  stood  once  more  together 
on  the  edge  of  that  vast  country  they  had  set  their  hearts  upon 
winning  for  France. 

The  season  was  already  far  advanced,  the  sullen  December 
air  nipping  with  the  chill  of  Winter,  but  neither  leader  nor 
lieutenant  hesitated  before  exposure  or  trial.  Accompanied 
by  Father  Membre,  and  a  small  party  of  followers  crowded 
into  six  frail  canoes,  Tonty  departed  a  few  days  in  advance  of 
the  main  body.  The  great  lake  was  swept  by  fierce  storms, 
but  skirting  the  sand-dunes  of  what  is  now  Indiana,  they 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River. 
Dragging  their  boats  on  rudely  improvised  sleds,  along  the 
frozen  water-courses,  often  wading  deep  in  snow  that  swirled 
about  them  in  clouds,  the  struggling  advance  finally  attained 
to  open  water  below  Peoria.  Here  they  were  joined  by  the 
others.  The  great  village  of  the  Illinois  was  discovered 
deserted,  the  tribes  being  absent  on  their  Winter's  hunt,  and 
the  prows  of  the  venturesome  canoes  were  pointed  southward 
in  exploration  of  the  lower  waters,  as  yet  almost  unknown. 
It  was  a  dismal,  dreary  picture  of  desolation  amid  which  they 


THE  FASCINATING  STORT  OF  TONTT          79 

floated,  the  wide  prairies  wrapped  in  a  mantle  of  obscuring 
snow,  the  tall  trees  lining  the  banks  sheeted  with  frost, 
the  river  full  of  running  ice.  February  6,  1682,  they  swept 
forth  from  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  into  the  broader  Missis- 
sippi, but  were  here  compelled  to  camp  for  a  week  waiting 
until  the  ice  should  open  sufficiently  to  permit  farther  passage. 
All  this  time  no  sign  of  human  life  was  apparent  anywhere. 
A  deserted  village  of  the  Tamaroas  was  passed  just  north  of 
the  juncture  of  the  Ohio,  but  the  first  Indians  met  in  all  this 
immense  stretch  of  wilderness  were  Chickasaws  far  down 
amid  the  dreary  rice  swamps. 

Constantly,  as  they  thus  drifted  downward  into  the  un- 
known, frequently  wrapped  in  a  dense  curtain  of  mist,  the 
savage  war  drums  would  boom  ominously  from  the  banks, 
and  it  wasTonty  —  fearless  for  adventure — who  went  boldly 
ashore  to  make  friends  with  the  natives.  Thus  feeling  their 
uncertain  way,  three  hundred  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the 
Arkansas  they  approached  the  great  village  of  the  Taensas. 
Tonty  and  Membre  set  out  daringly  through  the  swamp  and 
visited  it  after  a  two  hours'  toilsome  journey.  Never  before 
had  they  seen  so  pretentious  an  Indian  town.  It  consisted, 
by  his  description,  of  large,  square  dwellings,  built  of  sun- 
baked mud  mixed  with  straw,  arched  over  by  dome-shaped 
roofs  of  cane,  all  placed  in  regular  order  about  an  open  area. 
The  following  morning,  when  again  on  the  wide  river, 
Tonty  gave  chase  to  a  wooden  canoe  filled  with  Indians.  He 
had  nearly  come  up  to  it,  when  more  than  a  hundred  savages 
made  their  appearance  on  the  shore,  close  at  hand,  their  bows 
bent  ready  for  battle.  La  Salle  ordered  Tonty  to  come  back. 
The  Italian  obeyed,  and  crossing  the  river,  the  entire  party 
went  into  camp  on  the  opposite  shore.  Immediately  the 
intrepid  Tonty  volunteered  to  cross  alone  to  negotiate  peace 
with  this  unknown  tribe.  Desperate  as  the  mission  seemed 
from  the  war-like  motions  of  the  savages,  the  calm  audacity 
of  this  one-armed  soldier  carried  the  day,  and  soon  all  were 


80  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

seated  about  a  camp-fire  smoking  the  peace-pipe  together. 
These  were  the  Natchez,  a  tribe  destined  to  play  an  important 
part  in  the  Indian  history  of  the  Southwest,  and  by  many 
believed  to  have  been  the  last  remnant  of  the  ancient  Mound- 
builders.  They  were  sun  worshippers,  and  their  towns 
and  customs  were  found  most  interesting  and  peculiar. 

On  the  sixth  of  April  the  river  divided  into  three  broad 
channels,  the  boat  containing  La  Salle  followed  that  trending 
toward  the  west,  D'Autray  the  more  eastern,  while  Tonty 
took  the  middle  passage.  A  little  later  all  floated  forth  upon 
the  blue  waters  of  the  Gulf. 

After 'claiming  for  France  the  wide  territory  drained  by 
the  great  river  they  had  traversed  so  long,  the  hardy  ad- 
venturers turned  the  battered  prows  of  their  canoes  once 
more  up  stream,  their  task  accomplished.  It  was  a  hard 
struggle  pushing  steadily  against  that  stiff"  current,  but  mile 
by  mile  they  made  it.  La  Salle,  taken  sick,  lay  helpless  for 
some  time  at  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  but  Tonty  was 
hurried  forward  to  far-away  Michillimackinac,  from  whence 
he  was  to  send  word  of  their  important  discoveries  to  Canada, 
and  then  return  to  the  Illinois.  There  he  was  directed  to 
build  a  fort,  and  draw  together  the  nucleus  for  an  Algonquin 
Indian  colony,  thus  carrying  out  the  plan  long  formed  in 
the  mind  of  La  Salle  for  a  permanent  establishment. 

Of  that  lonely  trip  up  the  long  stretch  of  water-ways  — 
the  Mississippi,  the  Illinois,  the  Des  Plaines,  the  Chicago, 
and  the  great  lake  —  little  record  remains.  Those  weeks 
of  continuous  toil  and  hardship  amid  the  dreary  wilderness 
were  but  the  common  things  of  this  frontier  life,  and  not 
worthy  of  being  mentioned.  He  was  accompanied  by 
Brossard,  Cauchois,  Maso,  and  a  Saco  Indian.  Like  all 
else  in  his  life,  the  work  given  him  was  thoroughly  accom- 
plished. By  September  he  had  reached  Michillimackinac; 
two  months  later  he  was  again  back  upon  the  Illinois,  and 
in  December  had  actually  commenced  the  building  of  Fort 


THE  FASCINATING  STORT  OF  TO  NTT         81 

St.  Louis.  The  point  selected  was  the  summit  of  that 
great  natural  curiosity  now  known  as  "  Starved  Rock,"  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  river  a  few  miles  below  Ottawa. 
Rising  directly  from  the  water,  a  sheer  wall  of  stone  for 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  jutting  far  out  over  the 
wide  stream,  its  western  brow  reared  high  above  the  tops  of 
great  forest  trees  below,  its  eastern  side  impregnable  because 
of  a  wide,  deep  gorge,  no  more  perfect  natural  fortification 
could  have  been  found.  The  cliff  was  accessible  only  from 
the  rear,  where,  with  extreme  difficulty,  a  man  might  succeed 
in  climbing  up  along  a  steep  and  narrow  passage.  Here, 
laboring  all  Winter,  now  joined  by  La  Salle,  Tonty  built  his 
entrenchments  —  cut  away  the  forest  surmounting  the  rocky 
summit,  erected  store-houses,  and  log-huts  in  which  to 
quarter  his  men,  and  finally  dragged  timber  up  the  difficult 
pathway,  from  the  plain  below,  encircling  all  with  a  log 
palisade.  While  he  was  thus  at  work  La  Salle  held  council 
here  and  there  with  the  scattered  Indian  tribes  throughout 
that  country,  gathering  them  together  in  one  vast  confedera- 
tion of  Algonquins  on  the  site  of  the  old-time  town  of  the 
Illinois.  Fearful  still  of  the  threatening  Iroquois,  they 
gathered  about  this  rock  castle,  in  Parkman's  words,  "like 
timorous  peasantry  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  seeking  the  protec- 
tion of  French  power. 

Almost  at  once  three  hundred  cabins  were  reared  on  the 
plain  below,  and  as  Spring  advanced  toward  Summer  Tonty 
-  who  was  most  of  the  time  virtually  in  command  of  this 
fortress  —  must  have  gazed  upon  a  strange  and  marvellous 
scene,  as  he  looked  off  from  those  log  ramparts.  The  beau- 
tiful valley  of  the  Illinois  would  lie  before  him  like  a  map, 
bounded  in  the  dim  distance  by  the  far-away  bluffs.  The 
river  spread  directly  beneath,  a  silvery  stream,  diversified 
by  numerous  green-clad  islands,  and  sentinelled  by  forest 
trees,  until  finally  disappearing  in  the  far-off  haze  of  the 
horizon.  Across,  amid  that  sea  of  prairie  stretching  back 


82  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

from  the  bank  of  the  stream,  were  the  clustered  Indian 
lodges,  in  groups  of  villages,  where  squaws  labored,  warriors 
lounged  idly  in  the  sun,  and  naked  children  played  in  the 
shadows.  Everywhere,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  wander,  arose 
the  smoke  of  tepees.  Here  were  Illinois,  Shawnees,  Abena- 
kis,  Miamis,  Mohegans,  as  motley  a  collection  of  aborigines 
as  were  ever  gathered  in  peaceful  intercourse,  at  one  time 
reaching  the  surprising  total  of  twenty  thousand  souls. 

Here,  until  the  Autumn  of  1683,  La  Salle  and  Tonty 
remained,  with  their  little  guard  of  Frenchmen,  amid  that 
vast  surrounding  concourse  of  savages.  Then  La  Salle  de- 
parted on  his  final  trip  to  France,  and  Tonty  was  left  there 
alone,  and  in  supreme  command  of  the  Illinois  country  — 
its  first  governor.  Nor  was  he  ever  again  privileged  to  look 
upon  the  loved  face  of  his  great  chief.  There  on  that  isolated 
rock  of  St.  Louis,  patient,  courageous,  manful  to  the  last, 
he  did  his  full  duty,  and,  excepting  the  short  time  when  De 
Baugy  ruled,  held  his  solitary  post  for  six  years,  the  utter- 
most sentinel  of  French  power  in  all  that  wild  Western 
wilderness.  The  details  of  that  lonely  occupancy,  its  con- 
stant vigils,  its  dealing  with  timorous  Algonquins  and  re- 
vengeful Iroquois,  its  exploration  of  unknown  country,  its 
struggles  with  mutinous  Frenchmen,  the  treachery  within, 
the  cruel  savagery  without,  have  never  been  told  in  written 
story.  But  the  hours  of  loneliness  and  despair,  the  long 
waiting  for  word  from  the  absent  La  Salle,  the  sturdy  per- 
formance of  duty  unrewarded,  stamp  this  one-armed  Italian 
soldier,  stern,  kindly,  and  capable,  as  a  true  hero  of  chivalry. 

But  meanwhile  Le  Barre,  urged  to  action  by  the  fur 
traders  of  Mackinac,  and  other  jealous  interests  much  nearer 
at  home,  had  not  been  idle.  Two  officers,  bearing  special 
orders  against  La  Salle's  projects,  were  despatched  westward, 
Sieur  de  La  Durantaye,  of  the  regiment  of  Carignan-Salieres, 
to  Mackinac,  and  the  Chevalier  de  Baugy,  of  the  King's 
Dragoons,  to  Fort  St.  Louis.  Peremptory  orders  were  sent 


THE  FASCINATING  STORT  OF  TONTY          83 

to  La  Salle  commanding  him  to  report  in  person  without 
delay  to  the  governor  at  Montreal.  Somewhere  between  the 
Fox  and  the  Kankakee  Rivers  De  Baugy  and  La  Salle  met, 
exchanged  messages  and  parted,  the  former  continuing  his 
journey  to  Fort  St.  Louis,  where  Tonty,  acting  under  the 
instructions  of  his  chief,  gave  him  soldierly  greeting.  All 
that  Winter  the  two  lived  together,  not  altogether  in  harmony, 
while  the  one  commanded  for  the  Canadian  governor, 
the  other  for  La  Salle.  In  March  the  Iroquois  swept  sud- 
denly down  upon  them,  and  these  two,  mustering  their  few 
Frenchmen  and  Indian  allies,  fought  side  by  side,  while  for 
six  days  the  ferocious  savages  assailed  the  Rock  in  hopeless 
attempt  at  dislodging  its  defenders.  On  the  twenty-first 
of  May,  Durantaye,  accompanied  by  Father  Allouez,  and  a 
party  of  sixty  Frenchmen,  reached  the  fort.  They  came 
ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  the  garrison,  but 
brought  with  them  orders  to  Tonty  to  yield  up  the  command 
entirely  to  De  Baugy.  Loyal  to  the  instructions  left  him  by 
La  Salle,  he  obeyed  the  distasteful  order,  and,  almost  alone, 
departed  in  his  solitary  canoe  for  that  far-off  Canada  which 
he  had  not  seen  for  six  years.  One  can  almost  picture  the 
sad  scene  of  that  departure;  the  few  faithful  ones,  with 
Boisrondet  in  their  midst,  gathering  by  the  shore  to  say 
farewell,  while  above,  peering  down  from  the  palisades, 
the  others  rejoiced  over  their  apparent  victory. 

But  this  was  not  destined  to  be  for  long.  La  Salle  had 
found  the  ear  of  the  king,  and  his  lieutenant,  La  Forest, 
bore  back  with  him  to  Canada  from  France  a  communica- 
tion to  La  Barre  which  made  that  governor's  ears  tingle, 
and  caused  him  to  rescind  his  action  hastily  and  restore 
Tonty  to  his  command  in  the  Illinois.  Late  in  June,  1684, 
bearing  the  order  with  him,  the  Italian  entered  the  fort  gate 
and  handed  a  copy  to  De  Baugy.  The  same  day  the  dragoon, 
accompanied  by  his  followers,  departed  for  Mackinac, 
leaving  Tonty  in  loneliness  and  complete  control.  Of  what 


84  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

he  accomplished  at  St.  Louis,  following  this  date,  we  know 
but  little.  He  was  ever  a  man  of  action,  not  of  words.  We 
catch  glimpses  of  him  here  and  there  throughout  the  Illinois 
country,  exercising  his  power  and  influence  among  the  tribes, 
and  pushing  out  along  new  lines  of  discovery  and  trade. 
Once  he  was  at  Mackinac,  seeking  news  of  La  Salle,  and 
while  there  rejoiced  to  learn  that  La  Barre  was  no  longer 
governor,  but  had  been  succeeded  by  the  Marquis  de  Denon- 
ville.  Once,  he  journeyed  eastward,  accompanied  by  all 
the  Frenchmen  he  dared  withdraw  from  the  fort,  and  numer- 
ous Indian  allies,  to  take  gallant  part  in  battle  against  the 
Iroquois,  being  companion  on  that  campaign  with  Duran- 
taye,  Du  Lhut,  and  La  Forest.  On  his  return  he  brought 
back  with  him  a  number  of  French  families,  together  with 
wives,  sisters,  and  sweethearts  of  the  garrison,  to  make  the 
wilderness  life  more  endurable. 

Again  he  made  that  long  journey  to  Michillimackinac, 
his  heart  anxious  to  learn  something  of  what  had  become  of 
La  Salle.  While  there  he  heard  that  a  trader  who  had 
touched  at  Mackinac  Island  bore  with  him  a  letter  from  De 
Denonville,  praising  his  work  in  the  Illinois  country,  and 
requesting  an  audience  at  Montreal.  But  at  the  same  time 
rumors  reached  him  also  that  his  chief  had  met  with  disaster 
in  the  South,  of  his  landing  on  the  coast  of  Louisiana,  and 
the  subsequent  loss  of  his  ships.  This  decided  Tonty.  For 
him  to  learn  of  La  Salle's  predicament  was  to  act  at  once. 
Immediately  he  turned  his  canoes  down  Lake  Michigan 
with  the  determination  of  forming  a  company  at  Fort  St. 
Louis  for  an  expedition  of  rescue  to  the  Gulf.  It  was  late 
Fall,  and  his  voyage  a  stormy  one.  Ice  formed  so  heavily 
that  the  canoes  had  to  be  abandoned,  and  for  three  hundred 
miles  the  little  party  toiled  along  the  shore-line  on  foot,  thus 
finally  reaching  the  newly  constructed  fort  at  Chicago  where 
Durantaye  was  then  in  command.  A  brief  stop  here,  and 
Tonty  pushed  on  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  at  once  matured 
his  plans  for  the  relief  of  La  Salle. 


THE  FASCINATING  STORT  OF  TO  NTT          85 

La  Forest,  leaving  Frontenac  to  the  charge  of  his  lieu- 
tenant, came  west  hastily  to  assume  command  of  St.  Louis, 
with  its  little  garrison  of  thirty-one  white  men,  during  Tonty's 
absence.  The  latter  took  with  him  twenty-five  Frenchmen 
and  eleven  Indians.  Pushing  their  way  through  the  ice  to 
the  Mississippi,  they  swept  down  that  mighty  stream  clear 
to  its  mouth,  meeting  with  no  unusual  adventure  on  the 
way.  There  they  found  merely  "a  solitude,  a  voiceless 
desolation  of  river,  marsh,  and  sea."  East  and  west  the 
anxious  searchers  explored  that  dreary  coast  for  thirty 
leagues,  but  all  in  vain.  The  loved  commander  for  whom 
they  sought  so  faithfully,  eager  to  assist  him  in  his  adversity, 
was  even  then  aimlessly  wandering  on  the  distant  plains  of 
Texas.  Disheartened  and  baffled  at  this  failure  of  his 
search,  Tonty  turned  his  prows  once  again  toward  his  fortified 
rock  castle  on  the  Illinois.  There  was  his  duty;  there  he 
must  remain  until  word  came  from  his  chief. 

Who  can  picture  the  intense  anxiety  with  which  he  waited 
the  coming  to  him  of  news  from  out  that  vast  wilderness,  the 
hours  he  hung  above  those  rude  palisades  staring  down 
the  silent  river,  the  patience  of  his  long  vigil,  his  heart  ever 
troubled  by  the  unknown  fate  of  his  absent  friend  ?  Here 
at  last,  in  September,  1687,  ragged,  disheartened,  half- 
crazed  with  the  sufferings  of  their  long  journey,  straggled 
in  the  miserable  remnant  of  La  Salle's  last  expedition  —  the 
two  Caveliers,  uncle  and  nephew,  Douay,  De  Marie,  and 
Teissier.  Tonty,  at  the  time  of  their  arrival,  being  absent, 
engaged  in  a  campaign  against  the  distant  Iroquois,  they 
repaid  all  the  courtesies  of  his  lieutenant,  Bellefontaine, 
with  a  lie,  stating  that  La  Salle  yet  remained  alive  and  well 
on  the  lower  river.  To  Tonty,  on  his  final  return,  this  base 
falsehood  was  again  repeated,  and  Cavelier  even  had  the 
meanness  to  draw  upon  him  for  four  thousand  livres  in  furs 
in  La  Salle's  name. 

The  miserable  fugitives  departed  eastward  in  March, 


86  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

1688,  supplied  with  everything  the  fort  could  furnish,  but 
Henri  de  Tonty,  remaining  on  his  isolated  rock  of  St.  Louis, 
did  not  learn  the  truth  of  the  cowardly  assassination  of  his 
chief  until  late  September,  when  he  was  visited  by  Couture, 
and  two  Indians  from  the  Arkansas.  His  action  was  imme- 
diate and  intensely  characteristic  of  the  man.  He  might  yet 
save  the  remnant  of  the  despairing  colony,  and  hunt  down 
the  cowardly  murderers.  For  him  decision  ever  spelt  action. 
By  December  he  had  left  Fort  St.  Louis,  travelling  in  a 
single  wooden  canoe,  accompanied  only  by  five  Frenchmen, 
a  Shawnee  warrior,  and  two  Indian  slaves.  By  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  March  he  was  on  Red  River,  marching  alone  into 
hostile  Indian  villages  boldly  demanding  the  murderers  of 
his  chief.  With  only  two  men  remaining  faithful  to  his 
service  he  pushed  recklessly  on  into  the  far  interior,  facing 
deadly  peril  at  every  step  of  the  way,  the  frightened  fugitives 
fleeing  before  him,  and  seeking  safety  among  distant  tribes. 
At  last  every  trace  of  their  presence  suddenly  disappeared, 
and  he  was  led  to  believe,  through  crafty  Indian  lies,  that 
those  he  sought  so  persistently  had  already  perished  in  the 
wilderness. 

Laden  with  bitter  disappointment,  the  three  avengers 
finally  turned  reluctantly  back.  They  found  the  country 
they  must  traverse  flooded  by  a  sudden  rise  in  the  streams. 
As  Parkman  describes  it,  "  Sometimes  they  waded  to  the 
knees,  sometimes  to  the  neck,  sometimes  pushed  their  slow 
way  on  rafts.  They  slept  on  logs  placed  side  by  side  to  lift 
them  above  the  mud  and  water,  and  fought  their  way  with 
hatchets  through  inundated  cane  fields."  From  hunger 
they  were  forced  to  eat  their  dogs.  "  I  never  in  my  life," 
writes  Tonty,  "  suffered  so  much."  When  one  recalls  that 
this  Italian  was  never  a  robust  man,  and  that  he  possessed 
only  one  hand,  the  desperation  of  his  position  becomes  more 
apparent.  They  reached  the  Mississippi  on  the  eleventh  of 
July,  the  Arkansas  villages  on  the  thirty-first.  Here  Tonty 


THE  FASCINATING  STORT  OF  TONTT          87 

was  stricken  down  by  an  attack  of  fever,  and  it  was  not  until 
September  that  he  again  attained  the  fort  upon  the  Illinois. 
Of  what  followed  in  his  life  we  know  but  little.  In  1699 
he  still  commanded  on  that  rock  of  St.  Louis.  In  1702,  by 
royal  order,  he  was  bidden  to  reside  on  the  Mississippi,  and 
the  Illinois  establishment  was  abandoned.  During  that 
same  year  he  joined  D'Iberville  in  lower  Louisiana,  and  was 
despatched  by  that  officer  from  Mobile  to  influence  the 
Chickasaws.  From  that  moment  he  disappears  from  history, 
not  even  his  death  having  been  made  matter  of  record.1 
We  only  know  that  somewhere  in  the  midst  of  that  vast 
wilderness,  for  the  regeneration  of  which  he  had  fought  and 
suffered,  doubtless  passed  away  this  gallant  comrade,  this 
loyal  friend,  this  incomparable  knight  of  the  frontier,  this 
soldier  and  gentleman. 

1  There  is  an  Indian  legend  that,  white-haired  and  feeble  with  age, 
accompanied  by  a  single  faithful  Indian  companion,  in  1718  he  returned 
to  St.  Louis  to  die. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE    FOOTPRINTS    OF   THE    FRIARS 

IN  the  very  advance  of  exploration  and  settlement,  long 
the  foremost  figures  on  the  far  French  frontier,  were 
the  priests  of  the  black  robe  and  of  the  gray.  Heroic 
beyond  words,  pathetic  beyond  expression,  is  the  simple 
story  of  their  labors,  hardships,  and  defeats.  Nor  is  it 
possible  to  say  that  the  greater  meed  of  honor  lies  with  either 
the  Jesuit  or  the  Recollet  Order.  Both  alike,  in  their  chosen 
missionaries,  exhibited  devotion,  patience,  and  heroism  to 
the  highest  possible  degree,  and  although  the  records  of  the 
former  are  far  the  more  complete  and  easily  accessible,  yet 
their  more  modest  brethren  did,  within  somewhat  narrower 
limits,  equally  notable  work  throughout  this  Illinois  wilder- 
ness. Marquette,  Allouez,  Gravier,  and  Mermet  wore  the 
black  robe;  Hennepin,  Membre,  Ribourde,  and  Zenobe  wore 
the  gray.  Yet  final  political  conditions  in  Canada  favored 
the  Jesuits,  and  they  consequently  became  more  numerous 
and  influential  throughout  the  early  settlements. 

With  the  single  exception  of  Father  Senat,  who,  accom- 
panying D'Artaguette's  ill-fated  expedition  to  the  south, 
was  burned  to  death  at  the  stake  by  the  Chickasaws,  the 
self-sacrificing  priests  of  the  Illinois  were  not  destined  to 
suffer  martyrdom  through  torture.  Few  Indian  races  were 
ever  so  merciless  as  the  Iroquois,  and  none  other,  save  under 
great  provocation,  chose  unarmed  priests  for  their  victims. 
Yet,  if  constant  suffering,  hardships  innumerable,  patience, 
and  a  life  of  rigorous  self-denial,  with  death  at  last  in  the 
drear  wilderness,  be  an  open  door  to  true  martyrdom,  then 
many  an  almost  unknown  priest  of  the  Illinois  should  have 

88 


THE  FOOTPRINTS  OF  THE  FRURS  89 

his  name  written  high  on  that  roll  of  honor  beside  Jogues, 
Brebeuf,  Daniel,  Bressani,  and  Lallemant.  Oftentimes 
in  that  wilderness  it  required  greater  heroism  to  live  than  to 
die.  Certain  it  is  that  these  pioneers  of  Christ,  upheld  by 
the  zeal  of  faith,  penetrated  every  nook  and  corner  of  this 
great  wilderness  country,  zealously  seeking  the  salvation  of 
souls.  They  encountered  danger  and  suffering  in  every 
possible  form;  the  perils  of  nature,  the  inhumanity  of  savages. 
Some  were  drowned,  some  starved  to  death,  some,  losing 
their  way,  perished  alone  in  the  dread  desolation.  Yet  none 
hesitated  before  the  call  of  duty,  and  wherever  a  soldier  of 
the  Cross  fell,  another  came  forward  to  walk  unhesitatingly 
in  his  footsteps.  That  the  years  have  proven  all  this  to  have 
been  comparatively  useless  labor,  and  that  neither  Jesuit  nor 
Recollet  has  left  permanent  impress  on  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Illinois  country  —  either  red  or  white  —  in  no  way 
detracts  from  the  heroism  of  the  effort,  the  magnificent 
courage,  patience,  and  fortitude  of  these  wandering  mission- 
aries. Whatever  the  mistakes  of  their  officers,  or  the  mis- 
direction of  their  zeal,  these  soldiers  in  the  ranks,  wearing 
their  coarse  robes  of  black  and  gray,  did  their  complete  duty, 
and  deserve  the  applause  of  the  world,  the  "  Well  done  "  of 
God. 

Among  them  all,  Marquette,  a  Jesuit,  and  Hennepin, 
a  Recollet,  stand  forth  conspicuous  for  the  peculiar  services 
performed.  The  former,  as  companion  of  Joliet,  was  first 
to  explore  the  great  water-ways,  and  earliest  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  Illinois  Indians.  Already  stricken  by  disease 
when  he  stood  before  that  great  concourse  on  the  Utica 
meadows,  it  was  not  given  unto  Marquette  to  carry  forward 
to  completion  the  work  of  his  heart,  but  he  had  laid  the 
foundation  upon  which  another  brother  of  his  Order  was  to 
build.  Nor  was  that  brother  long  forthcoming;  but  it  is 
to  be  regretted  that  we  know  so  little  of  what  occurred  at 
old  Kaskaskia  between  the  departure  of  Marquette  and  the 


90  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

coming  of  La  Salle.  Those  six  years  are  all  but  recordless. 
Yet  this  we  know.  It  was  in  May,  1675,  that  Marquette 
died  on  the  dreary  Michigan  shore,  and  it  was  in  October, 
1676,  that  the  veteran  missionary  of  Lake  Superior,  Father 
Claude  Allouez,  left  De  Pere,  accompanied  by  two  boatmen, 
to  take  up  the  waiting  labors  on  the  far-away  Illinois.  We 
have  glimpses  of  his  desperate  voyage  down  the  storm- 
racked  shores  of  Michigan,  of  suffering  and  hardships  during 
the  months  of  that  dreary  Winter  —  just  such  little  vistas 
as  these  missionaries  sometimes  give  of  their  hard  life 
toil,  as  though  they  felt  it  weakness  to  complain.  It  was 
Spring  before  the  struggling  three  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Chicago,  and  met  there  members  of  the  Illinois  tribe,  and  it 
was  April  27  when  their  eyes  first  beheld  the  great  Indian 
village  where  Marquette  had  preached.  At  that  time  it 
contained  three  hundred  and  fifty-one  cabins,  yet  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  discover  how  long  Father  Allouez  remained 
there  in  his  first  ministry,  probably  until  the  coming  of  La 
Salle,  toward  whom  he  ever  held  great  enmity.  Once  during 
his  stay  the  town  suffered  an  attack  by  the  Iroquois,  which 
was  repulsed.  Beyond  this  but  little  fragments  remain 
regarding  the  life  of  Allouez,  although  he  was  for  some  years 
in  the  Illinois  country,  ever  a  strenuous  worker.  We  catch 
a  glimpse  of  him  lying  sick  at  Fort  St.  Louis  in  the  Fall  of 
1687,  and  he  died  on  the  Miami  River  two  years  later. 

Hennepin,  Membre,  and  Ribourde  were  the  priests  who 
accompanied  La  Salle;  they  were  of  the  Recollet  Order,  and 
the  gray  robe  held  ascendency  in  the  Illinois  country  so  long 
as  that  commandant  exercised  control  at  Fort  St.  Louis.  Of 
these  three,  Ribourde,  already  an  old  man  for  such  adven- 
tures, met  death  by  the  tomahawk  in  the  hands  of  wandering 
Kickapoos;  Membre  served  long  and  faithfully,  accompany- 
ing La  Salle  to  the  Gulf  on  his  last  expedition,  and  proving 
his  zeal  and  devotion  in  many  ways.  Undoubtedly  the 
leading  friar  of  his  Order  to  serve  in  the  Illinois  country,  he 


THE  FOOTPRINTS  OF  THE  FRMRS  91 

met  his  tragic  death  in  Texas  soon  after  the  murder  of  his 
great  leader.  It  was  Hennepin's  good  fortune  to  receive  a 
special  mission  of  exploration  which  has  written  his  name 
more  deeply  on  history  than  any  of  the  others.  From  Fort 
Crevecceur,  on  the  last  day  of  February,  1680,  he  was  de- 
spatched down  the  Illinois  in  a  canoe,  accompanied  by  two 
voyageurs  —  Michel  Accau,  who  was  the  real  leader  of  the 
party,  and  Le  Picard  du  Gay.  Their  purpose,  under  La 
Salle's  instructions,  was  the  careful  exploration  of  the  upper 
Mississippi.  The  work  thus  assigned  them  was  accomplished 
with  fair  success,  but  unfortunately  for  Hennepin's  reputation 
for  truthfulness,  the  various  accounts  he  afterwards  pub- 
lished of  his  adventures  and  achievements,  were  in  much 
so  palpably  false,  as  to  leave  even  his  truths  long  discredited. 
The  facts  seem  to  be  that  the  little  party  proceeded  up  the 
Mississippi,  hunting  a  wide  variety  of  game  on  their  way, 
until  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  of  April,  when  they  landed  to 
repair  their  canoe.  Suddenly  a  fleet  of  Sioux  boats,  manned 
with  warriors,  swept  down  the  river,  and  made  them  pris- 
oners. Suffering  great  hardships,  they  were  taken  north, 
passing  Lake  Pepin,  and  finally  reaching  the  Indian  villages 
in  the  vicinity  of  Mille  Lac,  Wisconsin.  Here  Hennepin 
spent  the  Spring  and  Summer  in  hunting,  practising  as  a 
physician  among  the  savages,  and  studying  the  Sioux  lan- 
guage. The  three  men  were  finally  rescued  from  their 
wearisome  captivity  by  the  opportune  arrival  of  the  famous 
coureur  de  hois,  Daniel  Greysolon  du  Lhut,  with  four  com- 
panions on  a  fur-trading  expedition.  The  next  Winter  was 
spent  in  the  huts  of  friendly  Jesuit  missionaries  at  Green 
Bay,  after  which  Hennepin  made  his  way  to  France,  never 
again  to  appear  in  the  Illinois  country. 

Membre,  while  on  his  first  visit  to  the  Illinois  country, 
made  a  journey  to  the  Miamis  on  the  river  St.  Joseph,  and 
was  also  in  a  village  of  the  Kaskaskias,  probably  somewhere 
on  the  Kankakee.  He  had,  however,  little  success  in 


92  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

converting  the  savages,  although  he  baptized  several,  includ- 
ing the  famous  chief,  Chassagonache.  The  latter  was  later 
reported  as  dying  under  the  hands  of  the  medicine  men  of 
his  tribe,  utterly  forgetful  of  the  good  missionary.  These 
early  laborers  were  greatly  distressed  by  a  lack  of  wine  for 
the  celebration  of  the  mass,  but  this  was  later  relieved  by  the 
abundance  of  wild  grapes  discovered  along  the  river  bottom. 
A  league  distant  from  the  great  Indian  village  of  the  Illinois 
a  cabin  was  transformed  into  a  chapel,  where  such  savages 
as  could  be  interested  were  instructed  in  the  mysteries.  After 
the  missionaries  had  been  driven  from  the  country  by  the  Iro- 
quois,  some  of  the  dusky  converts  saved  the  chalice  and 
sacerdotal  vestments  left  in  this  chapel  in  the  haste  of  retreat 
and  brought  them  with  reverent  care  to  the  distant  mission 
at  Green  Bay,  where  Hennepin  found  them  on  his  arrival 
there.  When  Membre  finally  departed  on  his  mission  to 
France  for  La  Salle,  never  again  to  return  to  the  Illinois,  he 
sorrowfully  summed  up  his  labors  in  these  words:  "  I  cannot 
say  that  my  little  efforts  produced  fruit.  With  regard  to 
these  nations  perhaps  some  one  by  a  secret  effort  of 
grace  has  profited;  this  God  only  knows.  All  we  have  done 
has  been  to  see  the  state  of  these  nations,  and  to  open  the 
way  to  the  Gospel,  and  the  missionaries;  having  baptized 
only  two  infants  whom  I  saw  at  the  point  of  death,  and  who 
in  fact  died  in  our  presence." 

The  work  accomplished  by  the  few  friars  of  St.  Francis 
coming  to  this  wilderness  amounted  then  to  little  by  their 
own  confession,  although  they  may  be  safely  said  to  have 
been  in  complete  ascendency  during  all  the  time  of  La  Salle's 
command  of  the  Illinois.  At  Fort  Crevecoeur  the  Indian 
mission  was  carried  on  until  the  Iroquois  came,  and  later, 
Membre  remained  for  several  years  at  Fort  St.  Louis,  acting 
as  chaplain  to  the  garrison,  and  missionary  among  the 
surrounding  tribes.  Fathers  Douay  and  Le  Clerc  also  saw 
service  in  the  Illinois  country,  and  it  is  highly  probable  that 


THE  FOOTPRINTS  OF  THE  FRURS  93 

others  of  the  gray  robe  were  there  likewise  to  assist  in  this 
labor,  although  their  names  have  not  been  preserved.  Some 
evidence  exists  to  show  that  the  Recollets  never  wholly  aban- 
doned the  country  until  the  English  obtained  possession.  As 
late  as  1768  the  Jesuit  Meurin  writes  about  removing  the 
bodies  of  two  priests  from  Fort  Chartres  to  Prairie  du  Rocher. 
These  were  Fathers  Gagnon  and  Collet,  priests  of  St.  Anne 
of  New  Chartres,  the  latter  a  Recollet. 

The  "  Mission  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,"  which 
was  the  name  given  by  Marquette  to  the  Jesuit  station  at 
Kaskaskia  on  the  Illinois,  languished  sadly  during  all  of 
La  Salle's  commandership,  but  on  April  27,  1677,  Father 
Allouez  returned  from  his  self-imposed  exile,  and  again 
began  active  missionary  work  among  the  gathered  tribes  of 
Illinois  Indians.  Father  James  Gravier  joined  him  there 
in  1690,  and  early  became  the  leading  spirit  of  the  mission, 
although  for  three  years  their  combined  labor  exhibited  only 
very  inadequate  results.  A  little  later  than  the  date  above 
given,  Fathers  Marest,  Mermet,  and  Pinet  came  also  to 
work  in  the  Illinois  country.  Pinet  was  stationed  near  the 
present  site  of  Chicago,  where  a  mission  had  been  established 
as  early  as  1698,  but  it  is  impossible  to  locate  the  earliest 
mission  work  of  the  others.  They  were  probably  at  small 
stations  now  utterly  forgotten.  Father  Rale  was  also  in 
the  Illinois  country  from  1692  to  1694,  and  Father  Julien 
Binneteau  was,  at  least,  travelling  upon  this  field  as  early 
as  1699,  going  west  as  far  as  the  Mississippi  River,  but 
whether  merely  as  a  traveller,  or  in  an  endeavor  to  preach 
to  the  heathen,  is  not  recorded. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  even  in  the  Jesuit  Relations  no 
complete  and  connected  account  of  the  work  done  by  these 
priests  is  to  be  found,  nor  even  a  satisfactory  list  of  those 
actually  engaged  in  Illinois  service.  At  best  we  obtain  but 
tantalizing  glimpses  here  and  there  of  the  labor  being  at- 
tempted in  the  heart  of  this  vast  wilderness.  After  a  short 


94  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  unexplained  absence  from  his  post  Father  Jacques 
Gravier  returned  to  labor  with  the  Illinois  tribes  in  April, 
1693.  He  was  delighted  to  discover  them  in  much  better 
frame  of  mind  for  ministry,  and  for  the  first  time  the  work 
appeared  to  prosper,  and  to  promise  definite  results.  He 
built  and  dedicated  a  new  chapel  at  the  little  French  trading 
stockade  near  the  Peoria  straits,  which  was  soon  crowded 
with  Indians  anxious  to  hear  him  preach;  but  in  the  mean- 
time he  became  involved  in  an  unfortunate  quarrel  with  the 
chiefs,  who  apparently  took  little  interest  in  his  labor.  In 
spite  of  much  opposition  and  threatening  he  married  Ako, 
a  French  fur  trader,  to  the  daughter  of  the  chief  of  the  Kas- 
kaskias.  So  great  grew  the  interest  in  his  work  that  the 
chapel  had  to  be  enlarged.  From  April  to  November  he 
reports  the  baptism  of  two  hundred  and  six  persons.  In 
September,  1700,  Gravier  undertook  the  long  canoe  voyage 
down  the  Mississippi  to  the  lower  French  forts.  While 
on  this  trying  journey  down  the  Illinois  he  discovered  that 
the  Kaskaskias  were  about  to  emigrate  beyond  the  Missis- 
sippi from  their  overpowering  fear  of  the  Iroquois.  Marest 
was  then  the  priest  stationed  at  this  particular  village.  The 
two  Jesuits,  uniting  their  efforts,  endeavored  to  induce  the 
Indians  to  remain  where  they  were,  but,  finding  this  impos- 
sible, accompanied  them  in  their  migration  down  the  two 
rivers  until  a  landing  was  finally  effected  within  the  present 
limits  of  Randolph  County,  and  the  second  town  of  Kas- 
kaskia  established.  After  a  short  delay  here,  Gravier 
proceeded  on  his  voyage  down  the  river.  The  exact  date  of 
this  settlement  is  unknown,  but  it  was  probably  in  1698  or 
1 699.  Returning  later  to  the  Illinois  country,  Gravier  became 
missionary  to  the  Peorias.  Trouble  occurring  among  them, 
he  was  shot  at  with  arrows,  and  so  badly  injured  that  he 
nearly  lost  his  life.  Marest,  learning  of  his  condition,  made 
a  hasty  overland  journey  to  his  assistance  from  Kaskaskia, 
but  the  stricken  priest  had  to  be  taken  down  the  river  as  far 


A   "LONG-ROBE"   OF  THE  WILDERNESS 

SHOWING    THE    DRESS    OF    THE    EARLY    MISSIONARIES 


THE  FOOTPRINTS  OF  THE  FRURS  95 

as  Mobile  in  order  to  reach  a  surgeon.  He  died  in  Louisiana, 
April,  1708. 

Somewhere  about  1700  Father  Francis  Pinet  established 
the  missions  at  Cahokia  and  Tamaroa,  for  the  tribes  bearing 
these  names.  The  point  selected  was  about  sixty  miles 
north  of  the  Kaskaskia  site  and  almost  opposite  the  present 
St.  Louis.  A  small  French  fur-trading  post  had  previously 
been  built  there,  and  may  have  been  even  then  occupied. 
The  following  year,  however,  this  mission  was  transferred 
from  the  control  of  the  Jesuits,  and  given  over  to  local 
priests  sent  out  from  the  Seminary  at  Quebec.  Father 
Burger  was  the  first  of  these  to  have  charge  here.  He  died 
some  years  after,  and  Marest,  forgetting  in  that  hour  all 
jealousy  between  the  priestly  orders,  walked  from  Kaskaskia 
to  conduct  the  funeral  service.  These  Seminary  priests 
began  coming  into  the  country  as  early  as  the  Fall  of  1698, 
and  were  at  first  warmly  welcomed  and  cordially  entertained 
by  the  few  Jesuits  then  on  the  field.  Later  we  find  in  letters 
much  bitter  complaint  regarding  their  encroaching  labors 
and  officiousness.  Toward  the  last,  however,  the  work 
seems  to  have  naturally  divided  itself,  the  Seminary  priests 
confining  themselves  almost  entirely  to  the  care  of  the 
French  settlers  in  the  small  villages,  and  leaving  the  scattered 
Indian  missions  entirely  to  the  Jesuits. 

By  1702  Pinet  was  stationed  at  Kaskaskia,  engaged 
almost  exclusively  in  Indian  work.  His  labors  were  highly 
successful,  the  small  log  chapel  being  unable  to  hold  those 
desiring  to  listen  to  his  earnest  words.  Associated  with  him 
at  this  time  was  Father  Binneteau,  who  later  lost  his  life 
while  accompanying  the  Kaskaskias  on  one  of  their  Summer 
hunts  into  the  interior.  Exhausted  by  the  severe  travel  and 
exposure,  he  fell  sick  and  passed  away.  It  was  but  shortly 
after  that  Father  Pinet  also  died,  and  then  Marest  came 
down  to  Kaskaskia  and  took  up  the  work.  In  August,  1702, 
Father  Jean  Mermet  accompanied  Juchereau's  expedition 


96  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

to  establish  a  French  trading-fort  somewhere  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Ohio.  The  point  selected  was  close  beside  the  present 
site  of  the  city  of  Metropolis,  and  here  the  voyageurs  laid  the 
first  foundations  of  what  later  became  Fort  Massac,  by 
building  a  log  stockade,  while  the  priest  established  a  mission 
near  by  which  he  called  the  Assumption.  Mermet  remained 
here  preaching  with  success  for  three  or  four  years,  the 
southern  Indians  coming  in  their  bark  canoes  down  the  Cum- 
berland and  Tennessee  Rivers  to  hear  him  repeat  the 
Gospel  story.  In  1706  we  discover  Mermet  back  once  more 
in  Kaskaskia,  assisting  Marest,  his  mission  of  the  Assumption 
having  been  broken  up  through  Indian  trouble,  and  the 
hasty  dispersal  of  the  fur  traders. 

Mermet  was,  in  many  respects,  the  most  noteworthy  of 
the  many  Jesuit  priests  laboring  in  the  Illinois  country.  It 
is  said  of  him : 

"  The  gentle  virtues  and  fervid  eloquence  of  Mermet  made  him 
the  soul  of  the  mission  at  Kaskaskia.  At  early  dawn  his  pupils 
came  to  church,  dressed  neatly  and  modestly,  each  in  a  deer-skin, 
or  robe  sewn  together  from  several  skins.  After  receiving  lessons, 
they  chanted  canticles ;  mass  was  then  said  in  presence  of  all  the 
Christians,  the  French  and  the  converts  —  the  women  on  one  side 
and  the  men  on  the  other.  From  prayers  and  instructions  the 
missionaries  proceeded  to  visit  the  sick  and  administer  medicine, 
and  their  skill  as  physicians  did  more  than  all  the  rest  to  win  con- 
fidence. In  the  afternoon  the  catechism  was  taught  in  the  presence 
of  the  young  and  old,  when  everyone,  without  distinction  of  rank  or 
age,  answered  the  questions  of  the  missionary.  At  evening  all 
would  assemble  at  the  chapel  for  instruction,  for  prayer,  and  to 
chant  the  hymns  of  the  Church.  On  Sunday  and  festivals,  even 
after  vespers,  a  homily  was  pronounced ;  at  the  close  of  the  day 
parties  would  meet  in  houses  to  recite  the  chaplets  in  alternate 
choirs,  and  sing  psalms  till  late  at  night.  Saturday  and  Sunday 
were  the  days  appointed  for  confession  and  communion,  and  every 
convert  confessed  once  in  a  fortnight.  The  success  of  this  mission 
was  such  that  marriages  of  the  French  immigrants  were  sometimes 


THE  FOOTPRINTS  OF  THE  FRIARS  97 

solemnized  with  the  daughters  of  the  Illinois  according  to  the  rites 
of  the  Catholic  Church." 

By  1712  the  French  population  had  increased  to  consid- 
erable proportions,  most  largely  concentrated  at  Kaskaskia, 
although  a  few  other  smaller  towns  were  established  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood.  Mermet,  full  of  the  spirit  of 
martyrdom,  nearly  lost  his  life  ministering  to  sick  Mascoutins 
during  an  epidemic,  but  his  lack  of  strength  prevented  him 
accompanying  the  Indians  on  their  annual  hunt,  and  Marest 
took  his  place.  In  1711  the  latter  journeyed  across  the 
country  to  visit  the  Peorias,  who  had  been  left  without  a 
missionary  since  their  treacherous  attack  on  Father  Gravier. 
Finding  them  now  in  much  better  spirit  Father  de  Ville  was 
despatched  there  to  take  up  the  work  the  following  year. 
Marest  died  in  Kaskaskia  in  1714,  and  two  years  later 
his  life-long  friend  and  companion,  Father  Mermet,  like- 
wise passed  away.  Both  were  reinterred  in  the  Kaskaskia 
church  by  Father  Le  Boullenger  in  1727.  A  complete  list 
of  the  missionaries  laboring  in  this  Illinois  country  during 
the  period  of  French  rule  is  impossible  to  obtain.  Among  the 
Jesuits  we  know  that  Father  Kereben  died  here  in  1728, 
Largilier  in  1714,  and  Guymoneau  in  1736.  Father  Senat 
had  been  in  the  Illinois  work  about  eighteen  months  when 
he  accompanied  D'Artaguette  on  his  disastrous  expedition 
to  Mississippi,  only  to  perish  at  the  stake.  Father  D'Outre- 
lean  was  reported  as  badly  wounded  by  Indians  firing  on  his 
canoe  while  on  his  way  down  the  river  from  Illinois  about 
1730.  In  1750  Father  Vivier,  then  residing  at  Cahokia, 
writes  that  over  six  hundred  Indians  had  been  baptized,  but 
that  French  brandy,  introduced  by  voyagfurs,  was  ruining  the 
work  of  the  mission.  At  this  time  De  Guyenne  was  associ- 
ated with  him  at  Cahokia,  Watrin  being  stationed  at  Kas- 
kaskia, and  Meurin  at  Peoria.  Five  years  later  five  priests 
are  reported  in  the  neighborhood,  with  two  lay  helpers,  the 
fifth  priest  being  Julian  de  Verney.  Xavier  de  Guyenne, 


98  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

cure  at  Fort  Chartres,  was  Father  Superior.  He  died  in  1762, 
after  thirty-six  years  of  active  service  in  the  wilderness. 

Early  in  1763  trouble  came  to  the  Jesuits  in  France,  and 
they  were  expelled  the  country.  Their  persecution  followed 
all  over  the  world  wherever  France  held  sway,  and  in  Septem- 
ber of  that  same  year  the  long  expected  order  arrived  in  this 
distant  Illinois  country  to  expel  the  priests  and  confiscate 
their  property.  However  the  Order  may  have  failed  in  the 
salvation  of  savages,  they  had  proven  most  successful  in 
the  accumulation  of  worldly  stores.  In  Kaskaskia  alone  they 
possessed  a  church,  a  chapel,  and  a  Jesuits'  house,  the  latter 
valued  at  forty  thousand  piasters,  and  all  built  of  stone. 
Their  plantation  consisted  of  two  hundred  and  forty  arpents 
of  land,  and  was  well  stocked  with  cattle.  They  also  owned 
and  operated  a  brewery.  All  this  property  was  promptly 
seized  by  the  French  commandant,  while  the  Jesuit  priests, 
with  the  single  exception  of  Father  Meurin,  were  driven 
from  the  country.  The  latter,  then  an  extremely  old  man, 
broken  down  by  hard  frontier  service,  was  permitted  to  re- 
main, but  it  is  not  probable  he  continued  to  exercise  his 
office.  His  death  occured  at  Prairie  du  Rocher  in  1777. 

So  all  these  efforts  of  one  hundred  years  of  sacrifice,  toil, 
and  exile  came  to  naught.  Nothing  material  remains  to-day, 
in  all  this  Illinois  country,  to  recall  these  early  labors  of  Jesuit 
and  Recollet.  The  great  silent  wilderness  amid  whose 
solitudes  and  desolation  they  wandered  in  religious  zeal  has 
become  the  abiding-place  of  civilization,  the  vast  prairies  are 
smiling  farms,  the  savage-haunted  streams  are  highways  of 
commerce,  but  the  black  robe  and  the  gray  have  alike  van- 
ished like  a  forgotten  dream.  Yet,  surely,  even  while  we 
trace  the  mistakes  of  administration  which  resulted  in  such 
waste  of  effort  and  of  lives,  we  can  give  full  honor  to  the 
magnificent  sacrifice,  the  supreme  heroism,  of  those  men  who 
sunk  their  all  in  unrewarded  toil  in  the  heart  of  the  black 
wilderness.  With  all  her  later  names  of  honor,  Illinois  can 


THE  FOOTPRINTS  OF  THE  FRURS  99 

not  afford  to  ignore  Marquette,  Gravier,Marest,  and  Mermet, 
those  humble  soldiers  of  the  Cross  who  died  in  her  service. 

Nor  can  any  mere  arrangement  of  names  and  dates  justly 
tell  their  story.  Thousands  of  leagues  in  the  wilderness, 
oftentimes  in  advance  of  all  their  race,  dwelling  amid  the 
squalor  of  Indian  camps,  travelling  hundreds  of  miles  on 
foot,  parched  in  Summer,  frozen  in  Winter,  hungry,  footsore, 
discouraged,  facing  death  almost  every  day,  their  sole  com- 
panions savages,  their  home  the  silent  wood  or  desolate 
prairie,  these  priests  struggled  on,  upheld  by  their  faith, 
inspired  by  a  reward  beyond  this  world.  Of  their  suffering 
and  hardships  they  wrote  little;  in  all  their  reports  there  is 
scarcely  a  line  of  complaint  regarding  physical  hardships. 
Hunger  and  cold,  exposure  and  danger,  were  merely  incidents 
of  their  service  —  they  went  wherever  they  were  sent;  they 
did  their  work  in  silent  patience,  whether  the  end  was  des- 
tined to  be  life  or  death.  These  men,  in  their  frayed  robes, 
aided  by  their  donnts,  or  oftentimes  native  companions, 
explored  the  water-ways  of  the  Illinois,  pressing  their  frail 
canoes  up  narrow  streams.  On  foot,  and  frequently  alone, 
they  toiled  over  the  Indian  trails,  bearing  with  them  scarcely 
more  than  breviary  and  rosary,  their  one  consuming  desire 
the  salvation  of  souls. 

Little  mission  stations  sprang  up  here  and  there  through- 
out the  wilderness.  To-day  the  very  locations  of  most  of 
these  are  unknown,  yet  there  was  scarcely  a  stream  of  any 
importance  that  had  not  been  the  labor  spot  of  a  "long  robe  " 
-  mere  dots  in  the  surrounding  savagery,  like  those  estab- 
lished at  Chicago,  Peoria,  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Des 
Moines.  We  cannot  even  tell  the  names  of  the  men  who 
toiled  in  them,  how  they  lived>  or  where  they  died.  Yet  it 
is  safe  to  say  there  was  little  difference  in  the  stations.  There 
would  be  a  log  chapel,  with  a  few  houses  nestled  close.  If 
intended  for  permanency,  a  general  storehouse  and  work- 
shop would  be  added,  the  whole  fenced  about  with  log 


ioo  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

palisades,  thus  forming  a  rude  stockaded  fort,  surrounded  by 
clearings  and  cultivated  fields.  In  their  outside  work,  such 
as  building  and  cultivating,  the  priests  usually  had  others  to 
assist  them.  Occasionally  the  savages  could  be  induced  to 
work,  but  generally  a  few  lay  brethren  were  attached  to  all 
stations  of  importance.  These  were  men  accustomed  to 
manual  labor  and  frontier  life,  able  either  to  guide  canoes 
or  handle  tools  or  weapons  as  need  arose.  In  the  earlier 
years  of  missionary  effort,  in  Canada,  and  along  the  upper 
lakes,  these  were  commonly  volunteers,  inspired  by  devo- 
tion to  the  cause,  and  serving  without  pay,  and  were  then 
known  as  donnes,  or  "given  men."  But  later,  and,  indeed, 
during  nearly  all  the  period  covered  by  the  Illinois  missions, 
hired  men,  called  engages,  were  employed.  These  did  all 
the  manual  labor  about  the  stations,  and  accompanied  the 
fathers  as  canoemen  on  their  journeys,  besides  acting  as 
the  intermediaries  between  the  priests  and  Indians  in  a 
rather  profitable  fur  trade,  whereby  the  missions  greatly 
prospered. 

It  is  easy  now  to  criticise  these  Jesuit  enthusiasts,  and  to 
point  out  the  causes  of  their  failures.  But  the  truth  and  jus- 
tification is  they  were  ever  battling  for  their  own  existence.  At 
the  time  when  Marquette  first  explored  the  Illinois  country, 
the  religious  exaltation  of  the  earlier  Canadian  missions  had 
already  seriously  declined.  The  marvellous  esprit  de  corps 
of  the  Jesuits,  that  total  extinction  of  self,  which  has  dis- 
tinguished their  work  throughout  the  world,  remained  as 
strong  as  ever  in  this  wilderness,  but  the  same  grand  enthu- 
siasm was  not  behind  it.  Canada  had  advanced  from  a  mere 
church  mission;  it  had  become  a  state  colony,  and  the  civil 
power  was  constantly  pressing  the  religious  farther  into  the 
background.  In  their  Western  mission  fields  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Church  naturally  desired  to  rule  supreme; 
they  dreaded  the  fur  traders,  not  only  because  they  inter- 
fered with  their  spiritual  labor,  and  perverted  their  religious 


THE  FOOTPRINTS  OF  THE  FRURS  101 

teachings,  but  because  their  brandy  corrupted  the  converts. 
La  Salle,  behind  his  purposes  of  exploration,  as  Parkman 
points  out, was  a  fur  trader;  even  more,  "he  aimed  at  occupa- 
tion, fortification,  settlement."  In  every  step  he  took  he 
was  directly  in  their  way,  and  as  a  consequence  they  were 
compelled  to  fight  him  with  every  weapon  in  their  power. 

On  his  part  he  sought  to  counteract  their  efforts  by 
supplanting  them  with  Recollets,  and  in  this  he  received  the 
support  of  Count  Frontenac.  In  his  letters  to  France  the 
latter  is  continually  asking  for  more  friars  of  this  order.  "  Not," 
as  Parkman  says,  "  because  he  had  any  peculiar  fondness 
for  ecclesiastics  of  any  kind,  regular  or  secular,  white,  black, 
or  gray;  but  he  wanted  the  Recollets  to  oppose  to  the  Jesuits. 
He  had  no  fear  of  these  mendicant  disciples  of  St.  Francis." 
And  La  Salle  wanted  them,  and  for  precisely  the  same  reason. 
So  it  was  that  during  all  the  earlier  stage  of  French  occupancy 
in  the  Illinois  it  was  a  continual  struggle  between  the  two 
Orders  for  supremacy.  While  La  Salle  remained  in  control, 
the  gray  robes  ruled  the  wilderness;  but  the  moment  the 
great  commander  departed,  the  superior  discipline  of  the 
Jesuits  prevailed,  and  at  once  their  priests  were  everywhere, 
influencing  alike  savages  and  Frenchmen,  and  building 
their  isolated  chapels  throughout  the  wilderness.  So  for  a 
hundred  years  they  toiled,  suffered,  and  died,  and  to-day 
there  remains  scarcely  a  memory  of  their  self-sacrificing 
labor. 


CHAPTER  VII 
OLD  WATER-WAYS  AND  THEIR  VOYAGEURS 

WHILE  English  colonists  were  scarcely  venturing  be- 
yond view  of  the  Atlantic  surges,  their  utmost  advance 
extending  merely  a  few  miles  inland,  the  daring  French  voy- 
ageurs  were  breasting  the  stormy  waters  of  the  vast  interior 
lakes,  and  even  bartering  for  furs  amid  the  black  lodges  of 
the  far  Dacotahs.  While  Eliot,  the  famous  Puritan  mis- 
sionary, was  laboring  among  the  Massachusetts  Indians 
within  a  few  days'  ride  of  Boston,  priests  of  the  black  robe 
and  of  the  gray  robe  were  building  their  rude  log  chapels  on 
the  bleak  shores  of  far-away  Superior,  and  exploring  that 
vast  river  which  cleaves  the  continent  in  twain.  Yet  this 
difference  was  not  so  much  one  of  boldness  and  energy  as 
of  opportunity.  The  French  advance  westward  was  expe- 
dited by  natural  advantages,  the  most  marked  being  the 
superb  system  of  water-ways  constantly  inviting  them  to  the 
interior. 

From  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  westward  to  the  far 
plains  of  the  Red  River  and  the  Missouri,  extends  an  almost 
uninterrupted  chain  of  water  communication,  which  the 
French  were  quick  to  explore,  and  utilize  for  both  commercial 
and  spiritual  purposes.  The  Canadian  voyageur,  the  engage 
of  fur  trader  or  of  mission,  early  became  an  expert  canoesman, 
and  soon  developed  into  the  finest  river  boatman  of  the 
world.  Actuated  by  love  of  gain  or  by  spiritual  enthusiasm, 
they  pressed  their  adventurous  passage  up  and  down  the 
swirling  currents  of  unnamed  streams,  seeking  convenient 
portages,  and  thus  ever  attaining  greater  distance  into  the 
mysterious  Western  wilderness.  The  broad  Ottawa,  flowing 


OLD  WATER-WAYS  103 

through  the  grim  Canadian  forest,  brought  them  within  easy 
reach  of  Huron,  and  a  little  later  their  venturesome  prows 
were  skirting  the  rocky  shores  of  the  vast  inland  lakes,  and  ex- 
ploring those  rivers  flowing  into  them  from  out  the  farther 
West.  To  push  up  against  these  streams  was  merely  a  ques- 
tion of  time,  so  that  while  New  England  yet  largely  remained 
unexplored,  the  fleur  de  Us  floated  over  all  the  central 
portion  of  the  continent,  and  the  French  tongue  was  spoken  in 
Indian  lodges  from  Superior  to  the  Gulf. 

They  were  largely  rough,  uneducated  men  who  wrought 
these  historic  changes, —  swarthy  of  face,  small  and  wiry 
of  body,  half  savage  in  manner  and  dress,  meeting  every 
hardship  with  a  smile,  and  beguiling  the  weary  miles  of 
tiresome  travel  with  merry  song  and  quip.  Plunged  for 
years  at  a  time  into  the  dreary  depths  of  wilderness,  sur- 
rounded by  constant  danger,  accustomed  to  death  and 
privation,  to  incredible  toil  and  protracted  isolation,  for  ever 
fronting  the  unknown  and  mysterious,  they  developed  a 
reckless  daring  in  their  calling  which  can  but  awaken  admi- 
ration. Little  higher  in  grade  than  the  naked  savages  with 
whom  they  so  freely  consorted,  and  among  whom  they  often 
married,  they  yet  lived  and  died  Frenchmen,  loyal  to  the 
traditions  of  their  race,  and  ever  responsive  to  any  demand 
upon  their  patriotism. 

Among  these  appeared  leaders  of  a  vastly  different  type. 
Some  were  ambitious  fur  traders,  with  financial  influence  at 
Montreal,  and  authority  in  the  lodges  —  men  shrewd,  often 
unscrupulous,  willing  to  risk  much  for  gain.  Soldiers  and 
explorers  rode  the  waters  also,  seeking  new  power  for 
France,  bold,  adventurous  men,  clad  in  the  light  mail  of 
their  century,  laughing  at  all  peril,  fighting  to  win  new  do- 
main for  their  King,  or  at  least  a  word  of  praise  from  his  lips. 
And  hither  came  also  the  Jesuit  and  Recollet  priests, 
barefooted  and  emaciated,  their  purpose  the  salvation  of  the 
heathen,  yielding  up  life  gladly  if  only  they  might  thus  attain 


io4  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

to  martyrdom  or  rescue  a  soul  from  the  fires  of  perdition. 
These  were  the  three  classes  who  led  the  advance  into  the 
wilderness,  their  helpers  those  half-savage  voyageurs  who 
wielded  paddles  and  bore  rifles  at  their  order,  their  open 
doorway  the  innumerable  water-courses  ever  inviting  them 
onward.  The  story  of  their  adventures,  hardships,  dangers, 
and  exploits  is  as  fascinating  as  romance,  and  from  among 
them  names  have  been  written  on  the  page  of  history  — 
Marquette,  Joliet,  Du  Lhut,  La  Salle,  Tonty  —  never  to  be 
blotted  out. 

Long  before  land  trails  crossed  the  Illinois  prairies  the 
great  natural  highways  of  both  Indian  and  white  commu- 
nication lay  along  the  navigable  streams.  The  discovered 
relics  of  lost  races  are  unearthed  in  the  river  bottoms;  the 
more  ancient  Indian  villages  were  upon  the  banks  of  streams; 
the  earliest  white  settlements  crept  slowly  in  beside  the 
water-ways.  The  first  Frenchmen  came  into  the  Illinois 
country  by  means  of  canoes,  and  for  many  a  year  compara- 
tively little  was  definitely  known  regarding  the  land  of  the 
interior,  away  from  the  principal  water-courses.  These  were 
the  mainly  marked  features  upon  all  the  earlier  French  maps 
of  the  region,  for  along  them  flowed  the  fast  increasing 
commerce  in  furs  to  far-away  Montreal.  The  mission 
houses,  the  voyageurs'  camps,  the  traders'  stockades,  the 
forts  of  palisaded  logs,  the  little  isolated  French  villages 
dotting  the  wide  wilderness,  were  all  located  beside  navigable 
streams,  or  along  the  shores  of  lakes.  Ever  it  was  the 
gleaming  water-way  —  inviting  the  boat  in  Summer,  the  sled 
in  Winter  —  that  pointed  the  easier  path  through  thousands 
of  leagues  of  wooded  desolation,  to  the  semi-civilization  of 
Lower  Canada. 

These  open  gateways  leading  into  the  Illinois  country 
were  both  numerous  and  inviting.  The  great  Lake  of 
Michigan  touched  it  upon  the  northeast,  with  portage  of 
scarcely  a  mile  leading  to  the  southerly  flow  of  the  Des 


OLD  WATER-WAYS  105 

Plaines,  and  that  across  an  almost  level  prairie.  When 
the  voyageur  had  once  dipped  the  sharp  prow  of  his  canoe  in 
those  silvery  waters,  no  obstacle  of  land  lay  between  him 
and  the  blue  surge  of  the  Mexican  Gulf.  Before  him 
stretched,  unvexed,  almost  unruffled,  a  thousand  leagues  of 
magnificent  water-way,  ever  tending  southward.  As  early 
as  1673  Marquette  passed  over  this  route,  northward  bound, 
with  his  fur-trading  companion  and  four  engag&s,  in  birch- 
bark  canoes,  and  ever  after  it  was  in  constant  use  by  the 
French.  Along  the  entire  western  line  rolled  the  vast  Mis- 
sissippi, with  many  a  side-stream  leading  into  it  from  the 
east,  nearly  all  having  their  sources  within  easy  portage  of 
the  great  lakes.  Of  these  the  Wisconsin,  by  portage  from 
the  Fox,  was  early  found  the  most  convenient,  and  remained 
long  an  extensively  used  highway  from  Green  Bay  westward. 
Rock  River  was  also  utilized  to  some  extent  by  the  fur  traders, 
but  was  never  esteemed  a  popular  route  for  the  longer  journey, 
although  the  Fox  was  thus  considerably  used.  Far  to  the 
south  the  Ohio  —  La  Belle  Riviere  of  the  French  —  bore 
many  a  brave  burden  along  its  gleaming  waters,  while  adven- 
turous prows  pushed  up  the  Wabash,  the  Kaskaskia, 
and  numerous  contributory  streams.  During  the  latter 
portion  of  the  French  military  occupancy,  the  Ohio- Wabash 
route,  with  its  easy  portage  to  the  Maumee,  became  quite  a 
favorite  for  the  transportation  of  troops  destined  for  service 
along  the  English  border,  and  in  still  later  times  this  same 
Ohio  proved  a  favorite  gateway  for  inflowing  American 
settlers  from  Virginia  and  the  South.  But  during  all  the 
period  of  earliest  exploration,  the  regime  of  the  fur  trader, 
and  the  one  hundred  and  seventy  years  of  French  control, 
the  most  popular  water  route  eastward  to  Canada  followed 
the  course  of  the  Illinois.  Its  gentle  current,  and  its  total 
freedom  from  rapids,  together  with  the  easy  portages  to 
lake  or  to  other  streams,  made  it  an  ideal  highway  for  boat 
travel,  whether  attained  by  way  of  the  Des  Plaines  or  the 
Kankakee. 


106  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

It  is  somewhat  peculiar  in  this  connection  to  note  that, 
while  Marquette  and  Joliet  on  their  return  toward  civilization 
in  1673  were  guided  by  friendly  Indians  up  the  Des  Plaines 
to  the  Chicago,  and  thence  to  the  open  lake  but  two  miles 
away,  six  years  later  La  Salle  chose  the  longer,  harder  route 
leading  into  the  Illinois  country  via  the  St.  Joseph  and  the 
Kankakee.  He  had  met  Joliet  since  the  return  of  the  latter, 
and  doubtless  had  learned  their  route  from  his  own  lips. 
He  even  passed  down  along  the  western  shore  of  the  great 
lake  in  a  season  of  incessant  storm,  and  possibly  camped  at 
the  very  mouth  of  the  Chicago,  yet  amid  intense  hardships 
pressed  on  in  his  frail  overloaded  canoes  entirely  around  the 
head  of  the  lake  to  where  he  had  appointed  a  rendezvous 
with  Tonty  on  the  river  St.  Joseph.  Later  the  Des  Plaines 
route  became  a  favorite  with  both  these  hardy  explorers, 
but  their  first  entrance  into  the  Illinois  country  was  made 
by  means  of  the  narrow,  swampy,  reed-bordered  Kankakee, 
along  which  for  many  miles  the  voyageurs  scarcely  found 
space  in  which  to  wield  their  paddles. 

The  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River  was  from  earliest  times 
an  important  spot,  the  natural  gateway  leading  into  the 
Illinois  country,  the  key  to  the  entire  water-way  system  of 
the  State.  There  are  evidences  that  it  was  so  recognized, 
not  only  by  the  Indians,  but  also  by  those  unknown  races 
occupying  this  territory  in  ages  gone.  The  earlier  white 
explorers  were  quick  to  perceive  its  many  advantages.  The 
Indians  gathered  there  in  large  numbers  at  certain  seasons  of 
the  year,  engaged  in  fishing  and  barter,  although  it  is  hardly 
probable  any  permanent  village  was  established.  The 
French  early  built  a  hut  there  in  which  to  rest  on  their  fre- 
quent journeys  —  or  possibly  merely  utilized  the  remains 
of  that  one  erected  by  Marquette's  engages  on  the  South 
Branch  —  and  at  times  kept  here  a  permanent  establishment. 
La  Salle,  according  to  Mason,  had  a  stockade  here,  with  two 
men  as  garrison,  as  early  as  1683,  while  a  few  years  later  the 


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OLD  WATER-WAYS  107 

Jesuits  built  a  palisaded  station  just  west  of  the  forks  of  the 
stream.  There  is  an  Indian  rumor  that  La  Salle's  fort 
stood  not  far  from  the  later  site  of  Fort  Dearborn.  Tonty 
says  M.  de  la  Durantaye  commanded  there  in  1685. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  changes  in  nomenclature 
regarding  the  various  Illinois  water-ways.  Few  streams 
now  bear  the  names  originally  bestowed,  or  those  of  record 
upon  the  earlier  French  maps.  Lake  Michigan  is  "  Lac 
Mitchiganong,  ou  des  Illinois";  Marquette  called  the  Mis- 
sissippi, "  Riviere  de  la  Conception  ";  the  Missouri,  the  "  Peki- 
tanoui";  and  the  Ohio,  the  "  Ouabouskiaou."  He  leaves 
the  Wisconsin  and  the  Illinois  nameless.  Another  Jesuit 
map  calls  the  Mississippi  "  Rivuiere  Colbert,"  which  is  the 
name  retained  in  Joliet's  map  as  presented  to  Frontenac. 
In  this  latter,  the  Des  Plaines  is  called  "  Riviere  Divine." 
In  his  larger  map  appears  for  the  first  time  the  word  "  Mes- 
sasipi."  On  the  map  prepared  by  Randin,  this  same  stream 
is  called,  "  Riviere  Buade."  The  great  map  of  those  early 
days  was  that  drawn  by  Franquelin,  about  1680.  Here  the 
Mississippi  is  called  "  Missisipi  ou  Riviere  Colbert";  the 
Missouri,  "  Grande  Riviere  des  Emissourittes,  ou  Missou- 
rits";  the  Illinois, "  Riviere  des  Ilinois  ou  Macopins,"  also 
"Ilinese";  the  Ohio,  "  Fleuve  St.  Louis,"  and  "La  Belle 
Riviere."  The  Illinois  River  had  also  been  named  "Riviere 
Seignelay,"  and  was  so  called  by  Hennepin.  The  St.  Joseph 
was  "  Riviere  des  Miamis  ";  Peoria  Lake  is  occasionally 
referred  to  as  "Lake  Dauphin"  as  is  also  Lake  Michigan; 
Kickapoo  Creek  was  given  its  Indian  name,  "  Ar-cary "; 
Chicago  on  the  Franquelin  map  is  spelled  "  Che-ke-gou"; 
the  Wabash  is  the  "  Ouabache,"  and  yet  earlier  the  "  St. 
Jerome." 

Along  these  streams,  and  upon  the  storm-lashed  lake, 
many  an  odd  craft,  bearing  many  a  strange  company,  invaded 
this  Illinois  wilderness.  The  earlier  voyageurs,  those  first 
French  explorers,  whether  in  priestly  vesture  bearing  uplifted 


108  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

crucifix,  or  in  soldier  garb  with  clanking  sword  at  heel, 
pressed  forward  down  these  unknown  water-ways  in  the 
lightly  built,  narrow  canoes,  such  as  were  used  by  the  Algon- 
quin Indian  tribes  of  Canada.  This  crank  boat,  a  mere 
layer  of  birch  bark  or  of  skin  stretched  over  thin  framework, 
capable  of  upbearing  no  more  than  four  men  and  propelled 
by  paddles,  was  easily  transported  from  stream  to  stream 
through  forests  or  over  rocky  bluffs,  and  with  sharp  stern 
and  bow,  was  quickly  controlled  by  skilled  hands  in  rapids 
and  turbulent  water.  It  was  peculiarly  a  development  of 
river  travel  through  a  wilderness  country,  yet  these  daring 
navigators  never  hesitated  to  press  boldly  forth  upon  the 
mighty  lakes  in  the  stormy  Winter  season,  coasting  the  rocky 
shores  of  Huron,  and  the  wave-lashed  beaches  of  Michigan. 
Desperate  tales  of  wintry  voyaging  in  such  frail  canoes 
have  come  down  to  us,  and  La  Salle  and  Tonty  braved  more 
than  once  terrible  peril  and  suffering  along  the  watery  miles 
of  storm-lashed  sea  between  Chicago  and  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Joseph.  A  marked  disadvantage  in  such  craft  was 
inability  to  transport  any  considerable  quantity  of  provisions 
or  merchandise.  Early  in  their  journeys  the  voyageurs 
were  compelled  to  rely  on  their  rifles  for  food,  on  audacity 
for  safety.  Then  the  delicate  structure  of  their  canoes  was 
a  constant  menace;  the  grazing  of  a  rock,  the  rasping  against 
a  stony  bottom,  involved  delay  for  repairs.  Even  on  the 
peaceful  waters  of  the  Illinois,  Tonty  is  constantly  telling  of 
damages  sustained  by  his  canoes. 

Yet  contracted,  frail,  uncomfortable,  and  unsafe  as  such 
craft  seem,  they  were  sent  sternly  against  the  current,  or 
dancing  down  swift  streams  propelled  by  the  lusty  strokes 
of  skilled  Canadian  voyageurs.  Rapids  were  shot  like  the 
flight  of  an  arrow,  storms  braved  in  the  open  sea,  and  thou- 
sands of  leagues  of  dark,  unknown  water  explored  and  given 
to  the  world.  Again  and  again  the  same  delicate  canoe 
would  safely  thread  the  intricate  water-ways  leading  from 


OLD  WATER-WAYS  109 

Montreal  to  the  far-off  Mississippi,  steering  its  devious  course 
along  Ontario,  up  the  black-fringed  Ottawa,  coasting  the 
rocky  shores  of  Huron,  past  the  little  mission  station  at 
Michillimackinac,  down  stormy  Michigan,  until  at  last  its 
venturesome  prow  would  feel  the  peaceful  plashing  of  the 
Illinois.  It  involved  months  of  travel,  of  peril,  of  intense 
loneliness,  with  the  great  savage  wilderness  stretching  away 
unknown,  mysterious,  on  every  side,  the  weary  voyageurs 
ever  gazing  forth  on  black  tangled  forests,  wide,  lorn  prairies, 
or  the  dreary  desolation  of  uncharted  seas. 

It  was  thus  that  the  priest  Marquette,  his  face  already 
stamped  with  coming  death,  accompanied  by  the  rugged  Joliet 
and  their  engages,  drifted  downward  from  Green  Bay,  along 
the  Fox,  the  Wisconsin,  and  the  Mississippi,  every  mile  open- 
ing before  them  the  unknown,  every  curve  of  the  stream 
hiding,  perchance,  some  unsuspected  peril  which  would  leave 
them  to  perish  miserably  in  that  gloomy  wilderness.  It  was 
thus  La  Salle  felt  his  uncertain  way  down  the  reed-strewn 
Kankakee,  along  a  stream  so  narrow  the  slight  boat  could 
hardly  be  forced  onward,  and  it  was  in  just  such  a  canoe  he 
made  again  and  again  those  heart-breaking  trips  to  repair 
his  fortunes  in  Canada.  Tonty,  Boisrondet,  Hennepin,  all 
those  whose  gallant  names  yet  linger  in  this  fascinating  story 
of  the  Illinois  country,  trusted  their  all  to  such  frail  boats,  and 
pushed  their  narrow  prows  up  many  an  unnamed  stream, 
seeking  thus  new  pathways  into  the  unknown  desolation 
surrounding  them.  Such  daring  cost  lives  in  plenty,  and 
many  a  reckless  voyageur  sank  beneath  rapid  and  wave; 
but  the  dangers  halted  none  who  crept  forth  alive.  What 
could  be  more  pathetic  than  the  story  of  Louis  Joliet's  long 
and  dangerous  voyage  eastward  with  his  report  of  discoveries 
of  the  far  Mississippi  ?  He  had  been  wonderfully  successful 
along  all  his  journey,  only  to  meet  with  serious  accident 
almost  in  sight  of  home.  At  the  foot  of  the  rapids  of  La 
Chine,  just  above  Montreal,  his  canoe  caught  in  an  eddy, 


no  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

was  capsized  and  two  of  his  men  and  an  Indian  boy  drowned, 
while  all  of  his  papers  were  lost  and  his  own  life  preserved 
as  by  a  miracle.  He  writes  to  Frontenac:  "  I  had  escaped 
every  peril  from  the  Indians;  I  had  passed  forty-two  rapids; 
and  was  on  the  point  of  disembarking,  full  of  joy  at  the 
success  of  so  long  and  difficult  an  enterprise, —  when  my 
canoe  upset,  after  all  the  danger  seemed  over.  I  lost  two 
men,  and  my  box  of  papers,  within  sight  of  the  first  French 
settlements,  which  I  had  left  almost  two  years  before." 

Later,  in  this  same  period  of  exploration,  heavier  boats 
were  adopted  for  use  on  such  broad  streams  as  the  Illinois 
and  Mississippi.  The  large  vessel  projected  by  La  Salle, 
the  building  of  which  was  begun  at  Fort  Crevecoeur,  was 
never  completed,  owing  to  the  mutiny  in  Tonty's  command. 
But  boats  more  capacious  and  stronger,  some  of  hollowed 
logs,  others  of  heavy  skins  extended  over  strong  framework, 
and  possibly  a  few  of  flat-boat  form  built  from  rude  planking, 
were  constructed  soon  after  a  permanent  fortification  had 
been  erected  at  Starved  Rock.  The  increasing  trade  in  furs 
made  such  boats  a  necessity.  The  canoe,  however,  remained 
all  through  the  French  regime  the  favorite  for  long  rapid 
journeys  over  all  kinds  of  water-ways.  Tonty,  on  his  mar- 
vellous trip  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  in  the  vain  hope  of  finding 
La  Salle,  used  a  wooden  boat,  but  his  entire  journey  was 
made  upon  broad  water.  In  narrow,  shallow  streams,  like 
the  Kankakee  or  the  Rock  or  the  Fox,  paddles  were  far 
more  serviceable  than  oars,  and  when  portages  were  long  and 
numerous  the  lighter  the  boat  the  better.  Later,  dur- 
ing the  French  occupancy,  troops  were  frequently  trans- 
ported along  the  Mississippi  and  Illinois,  between  Fort 
Chartres  and  Detroit,  on  huge  blunt-nosed  flat-boats,  operated 
by  sweeps,  specially  constructed  for  the  purpose.  On  the 
larger  rivers  these  had  to  be  warped  up  against  the  strong 
current  by  means  of  ropes,  a  most  toilsome  process.  Such 
troop-boats  were  also  despatched  eastward,  especially  during 


OLD  WATER-WAYS  in 

the  French  and  Indian  War,  from  Fort  Chartres  by  way  of 
the  Ohio,  Wabash,  and  Maumee.  Captain  Aubray  made 
this  journey  in  March,  1758,  with  seventeen  large  boats 
laden  with  soldiers  and  provisions.  With  the  coming 
into  the  country  of  American  pioneers,  the  old-time  canoes 
rapidly  disappeared  from  off  the  water-ways,  and  a  broader 
type  of  wooden  boat  was  substituted.  Many  settlers  arrived 
in  huge  log  arks,  sitting  high  above  the  water,  laden  with 
household  goods,  and  propelled  and  guided  by  long  sweeps. 
These,  oftentimes  made  bullet-proof  as  a  defence  against 
savages  along  the  shores,  were  easily  floated  down  the  Ohio, 
but  the  sturdy  oarsmen  had  many  a  difficult  struggle  forcing 
their  unwieldy  vessels  northward  against  the  sweeping 
current  of  the  Mississippi.  Nevertheless,  toil  conquered 
difficulties,  and  not  a  few  of  these  arks  penetrated  the  water- 
ways as  far  northward  as  Peoria.  Rafts  were  also  occasion- 
ally used  for  journeying  down  stream,  and  for  many  years 
the  unwieldy  keel-boat  was  very  much  in  evidence.  Many 
still  live  who  have  voyaged  on  such  with  produce  to  New 
Orleans. 

In  imagination  let  us  stand  at  a  curve  in  the  Illinois  where 
the  eye  can  follow  in  wide  sweep  the  gleaming  waters  of  that 
noble  stream,  surging  downward  to  its  meeting  with  the 
Mississippi.  Just  above,  leaning  far  out  across  the  water, 
stands  a  huge  tree,  the  gnarled  trunk  and  distorted  limbs 
evidencing  age,  a  tree  which,  local  tradition  claims,  was  old 
when  red  men  ruled  this  fair  domain.  Resting  thus,  dream- 
ing idly  of  those  far-away  days  of  history-making  and  strug- 
gle, let  there  sweep  before  us  a  panorama  of  dissolving  views, 
the  sights  this  old  sentinel  tree  has  witnessed  in  the  long 
centuries  of  silence.  The  representatives  of  races  dead  and 
forgotten,  with  strange  faces,  peculiar  dress,  and  odd-shaped 
water-craft,  come  out  from  the  early  morning  mist  and 
drift  slowly  by.  Their  language  is  guttural,  unknown;  their 
ancient  weapons,  heavily  tipped  with  copper,  shimmer  in  the 


ii2  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

sunlight.  Scarcely  have  these  rounded  the  bend  below, 
disappearing  for  ever  from  this  land  which  was  once  their 
own,  when  the  Indian  comes,  a  stalwart  bronze  figure,  taci- 
turn and  silent,  his  facial  outline  strong  with  lines  of  cruelty 
and  savage  instincts.  His  is  a  bark  canoe,  cleaving  the  waters 
like  a  wild  duck;  beside  him  rests  his  spear,  flint-tipped; 
at  his  back  hangs  the  bow,  with  quiver  of  arrows,  while  his 
hands  grasp  the  dripping  paddle.  Like  a  flash  he  also  is 
gone,  but  others  of  his  great  race  follow  swiftly  after;  solitary 
hunters,  families  migrating  to  distant  villages,  traders  eager 
for  barter  among  neighboring  tribes;  war-parties,  bedecked 
and  painted,  whooping  madly  as  they  urge  their  frail  boats 
forward  in  a  wild  race  for  the  goal.  But  these  are  not  all  the 
same;  their  dress,  their  hair,  their  feathers  and  war-paint, 
their  very  cries,  tell  of  a  constant  change  in  tribes,  even  in 
races  —  Illinois,  Miamis,  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Winnebagoes, 
Pottawattomies,  Kickapoos,  Iroquois,  and  many  others, 
take  turns  in  gliding  past  in  grim  and  savage  procession. 
But  wait ;  here  is  something  new  creeping  up  against  the 
stream  from  around  that  distant  point  below.  There  are 
two  boats,  canoes  unlike  those  others,  battered  and  stained 
by  months  of  severe  service,  and  they  hug  the  shore  closely 
to  keep  away  from  the  sweep  of  the  current.  The  paddles 
rise  and  fall  as  though  the  arms  wielding  them  were  wearied 
with  long  toil.  Yet  the  occupants  are  different  from  all  those 
others  who  have  been  passing  this  way  for  unknown  cen- 
turies; they  are  not  savages  —  they  are  of  the  white  race. 
As  they  pass  silently,  take  one  glimpse  and  remember  the 
picture  —  three  men  to  each  boat,  two  at  the  paddles, 
the  third  resting.  Mark  him  with  the  broad  shoulders  and 
dark  beard  —  it  is  Louis  Joliet;  and  that  other,  that  striking 
face,  clean-shaven,  pale,  the  deep-set  eyes  aglow  with  interest, 
the  thin  form  hidden  beneath  a  shapeless  black  robe  —  it  is 
the  Jesuit  Marquette.  Like  shadows,  yet  clearly  foretelling 
a  coming  new  life  to  this  land  of  wilderness,  they  disappear 


a 
h 


o 

H 

CD 


OLD  WATER-WAYS  113 

into  the  dim  north,  and  once  again  floats  past  the  old  Indian 
procession.  The  obscuring  curtain  of  savagery  descends 
upon  river  and  bluff. 

Suddenly  hundreds  of  canoes  hurry  southward,  the 
paddlers  working  feverishly  with  many  an  affrighted  glance 
cast  backward  over  their  shoulders.  They  are  Illinois,  and 
in  their  boats  are  huddled  women  and  children  crazed  with 
fear.  A  laden  canoe  grounds  on  a  mud-bank  out  yonder, 
but  the  others  make  no  pause  for  rescue.  With  plashing 
paddles,  and  shrill  cries  of  terror,  they  round  the  bend  below. 
Scarcely  has  the  last  laggard  disappeared,  when  down 
sweep  others  —  canoes  crowded  with  painted  warriors, 
whooping  like  fiends,  the  wild  wolves  of  the  Iroquois.  As 
the  merciless  hawk  drops  down  upon  his  prey,  they  come, 
crushing  the  disabled  boat,  and  with  savage,  cruel  blows 
killing  every  occupant,  yet  scarcely  pausing  in  their  mad 
pursuit  of  the  fugitives  beyond.  The  days  pass,  the  river 
rolls  onward,  silent  and  desolate.  But  watch;  a  solitary 
canoe  swings  suddenly  into  sight,  tightly  hugging  the  dark 
shore  shadows.  It  holds  three  men,  and  the  anxious  faces 
peering  forth  from  beneath  the  broad  hat-brims  are  white. 
Mark  that  man  in  the  prow,  him  with  the  strong,  manly  face, 
the  stalwart  figure,  the  clothing  half  soldier,  half  coureur  de 
bois  —  it  is  Robert  de  la  Salle.  And  others  come,  glance 
curiously  up  at  this  old  tree  crowning  the  bluff,  and  pass  on 
into  the  silent  mystery  of  the  years,  and  the  wilderness. 
Life  and  death,  hope  and  despair,  the  red  race  and  the 
white,  the  Indian,  the  French,  the  English,  the  American, 
each  in  turn,  or  intermingled,  as  the  wheel  of  history  revolves, 
go  floating  by.  The  one-armed  Tonty,  swarthy  of  face  but 
white  of  heart,  ever  the  dauntless  soldier;  Boisrondet,  hardly 
more  than  a  boy;  Hennepin,  in  his  gray  robe;  Durantaye, 
the  first  commandant  at  Chicago,  and  later  still,  many  a 
dashing  French  gallant,  and  blunt  English  soldier.  More 
and  more  the  old  water-way  throbs  with  life,  an  ever  changing 


n4  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  renewing  life,  civilization  forcing  barbarism  backward 
with  recurring  waves.  Priest  and  soldier,  fur  trader  and 
settler,  press  back  and  forth,  each  in  turn  fulfilling  that 
mission  with  which  he  is  entrusted;  the  frail  canoe  changes 
to  the  rude  boat,  the  flat  scow,  the  top-heavy  ark,  the  lunging 
raft,  the  laden  keel-boat,  the  modern  steamer.  War  and 
peace  rule  in  turn  these  sparkling  waters,  and  through  it  all 
the  old  tree  gazes  down  in  silence,  while  the  historic  river  of 
the  Illinois  sweeps  ceaselessly  forward  to  pour  its  waters  into 
that  greater  stream,  ever  hurrying  onward  to  the  Gulf. 
Who  can  stand  upon  its  banks  unmoved  by  memory  of  what 
it  has  been  —  of  that  dim  past  when  early  civilization  bat- 
tled with  savagery;  of  faces  and  names  for  ever  associated 
with  these  silvery  waters  through  historic  years  ?  Teeming 
with  romance,  every  wave  a  messenger  of  some  forgotten 
sacrifice  in  the  brave  days  of  old,  rolls  on  still  in  peerless 
majesty  that  ancient  highway  of  the  prairies,  the  historic 
Illinois. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
OLD  PRAIRIE  TRAILS  AND  THEIR  TRAVELLERS 

IN  those  years  before  white  men  came  to  Illinois,  as  well 
as  during  the  entire  period  of  sparse  French  occupancy, 
the  virgin  prairies  of  the  country,  roamed  over  by  wild  beasts 
and  as  wild  men,  were  crisscrossed  by  innumerable  Indian 
trails,  leading  either  from  village  to  village,  or  else  to  some 
more  distant  point  of  interest.  Some  of  these  were  distinctly 
war  trails,  pointing  the  way  direct  toward  distant  hostile 
tribes  or  to  some  doomed  white  settlement  along  the  far-off 
eastern  border;  others  were  the  outgrowth  of  the  chase,  or 
the  bartering  of  furs  amid  distant  lodges;  while  the  more 
important,  traversed  oftentimes  by  entire  villages  in  their 
migrations,  were  the  established  routes  of  the  aborigines, 
and  remained  much  the  same  during  many  generations  of 
constant  wilderness  travel. 

The  Indian  mode  of  journeying  when  on  foot  was  always 
in  single  file,  their  war  parties  oftentimes  stretching  for  a 
great  distance  in  straggling  procession.  As  a  result  of  this 
peculiarity,  their  trails  leading  across  the  country,  if  much 
used,  soon  cut  deeply  into  the  soft,  alluvial  soil  of  the  prairie, 
leaving  a  plainly  marked  and  narrow  track,  worn  by  the 
hundreds  of  moccasined  feet  passing  that  way.  As  some 
trails  were  thus  used  for  possibly  centuries  of  wilderness 
travel,  and  by  many  different  tribes,  not  infrequently  this 
gash  became  so  deeply  cut  as  to  make  travelling  difficult, 
and  consequently  others  were  started  close  at  hand,  thus 
forming  parallel  tracks  running  for  miles  side  by  side.  Like 
great  uncoiled  snakes  these  trails  wound  here  and  there 
across  the  level  plains,  and  over  the  low  hills,  now  skirting 

»s 


n6  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

the  edge  of  a  dark  forest,  or  plunging  into  its  depths,  here 
dipping  into  some  silent  ravine,  or  running  beside  the  margin 
of  lake  or  stream,  yet  ever  pointing  directly,  and  by  the  most 
feasible  route,  toward  the  selected  destination,  however 
far  away. 

The  natural  instinct  of  the  savages  as  path  finders  was 
beyond  all  question,  and  those  main  trails  which  in  an  early 
day  intersected  the  Illinois  country,  so  far  as  they  can  be 
traced  by  modern  research,  exhibit  few  mistakes  in  judg- 
ment. The  large  rivers  were  avoided  so  far  as  possible, 
but,  when  they  must  be  met,  were  crossed  at  convenient  and 
shallow  fords;  the  high  and  rocky  hills  stretching  along  the 
southern  portion  pf  the  State  were  penetrated  by  means  of 
their  natural  passes,  while,  wherever  the  trail  led,  the  best 
of  camping-grounds  were  always  found  convenient  to  the 
end  of  a  day's  travel.  Several  different  points  within  the  lim- 
its of  the  present  State  appear  to  have  been  favorite  Indian 
meeting-places,  and  were  seemingly  used  as  such  by  more 
than  one  tribe,  judging  from  the  number  and  widely  diverg- 
ing trails  leading  thereto.  The  most  clearly  marked  spot  in 
this  respect  is  Danville.  From  here,  as  a  centre,  narrow 
Indian  paths  branched  off  like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel  to  every 
point  of  the  compass.  The  Peoria  Lake,  or  rather  the  d'etroit 
between  the  lakes,  was  likewise  a  favored  meeting-place  for 
various  tribes,  possibly  for  fishing  as  well  as  purposes  of  bar- 
ter, while  Rock  Island  and  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River 
were  alike  largely  frequented.  From  Shawneetown  in  the 
far  south,  numerous  well-worn  trails  led  both  north  and  west. 
During  the  days  of  Fort  St.  Louis,  Starved  Rock  became  a 
centre  for  widely  diverging  trails,  traversed  by  many  tribes. 

Nor,  with  all  these  years  which  have  passed  since  wan- 
dering, moccasined  feet  thus  wore  away  the  soft  prairie  sod, 
have  evidences  of  these  early  aboriginal  trails  totally  van- 
ished. The  lines  were  cut,  not  only  across  the  dreary  wilder- 
ness, but  equally  deep  have  they  been  impressed  upon  history. 


PRAIRIE  TRAILS  AND  THEIR   TRAVELLERS     117 

In  the  very  earliest  of  those  old  days  of  struggle  and  advance 
they  became  the  prized  inheritance  of  the  pioneers.  When 
venturesome  settlers  first  began  to  stray  cautiously  forth 
from  beside  those  streams,  along  whose  inviting  banks  they 
had  first  made  homes,  the  Indian  trails  became  their  natural 
guides  into  the  unknown  interior.  They  pointed  the  easier 
path  through  the  Ozarks,  and  to  spots  of  fertility  and  beauty 
far  beyond.  Following  them,  daring  adventurers  were  led  far 
out  beyond  the  uttermost  frontier,  and  thus  is  accounted 
for  many  an  isolated  settlement,  seemingly  a  mere  pin-prick 
amid  the  surrounding  wilderness.  Many  of  these  trails  were 
utilized  for  years  by  the  earlier  settlers  as  convenient  means 
of  communication;  not  a  few  afterwards  became  mail  routes, 
and  later  still,  stage  routes,  and  finally,  by  the  law  of  long 
usage,  were  transformed  into  permanent  roads,  which, 
ignoring  all  the  rigidity  of  section  lines  and  the  authority 
of  government  surveys,  swept  independently  straight  across 
the  country  as  the  crow  flies,  as  unerring  in  direction  as  when 
first  traced  thereon  by  some  long  dead  and  forgotten  savage. 
So  to-day,  in  many  portions  of  this  State,  one  can  journey  for 
miles  along  some  old-time  Indian  trail,  which  would  be  alive 
with  thrilling  memories  of  that  dead  past  could  it  only  be 
induced  to  tell  its  long-forgotten  story.  Even  railroads 
speed  through  the  Ozarks,  and  across  the  open  prairie,  under 
such  savage  guidance,  and  passengers  are  whirled  past 
scenes  of  barbaric  and  historic  interest,  could  the  rocks 
only  speak,  or  the  old  forest  trees  give  voice. 

And  what  strange  scenes  of  war  and  peace,  what  oddly 
attired  passing  travellers,  what  peculiar  mingling  of  past  and 
present,  some  of  these  old-time  trails  have  witnessed  in  the 
speechless  years  gone  by!  It  would  be  indeed  a  motley 
gathering  could  the  ghosts  of  the  trail  again  walk,  and  revisit 
those  populous  prairies.  The  story  of  them  to-day,  even  in 
those  little  glimpses  which  have  descended  through  the  ob- 
scuring years,  is  most  fascinating;  yet  the  colors  are  sadly 


1 1 8  HIS  TORIC  ILLINOIS 

faded,  the  trooping  men  and  women  but  so  many  spectres, 
unnamed  and  unknown.  The  old  Sauk  trail;  the  path  lead- 
ing from  the  far-away  French  villages  on  the  Mississippi  to 
Detroit;  from  St.  Louis  to  Vincennes;  and  that  dim  trace 
extending  from  the  mouth  of  the  Des  Moines  to  the  Peoria 
Lake  —  all  alike  are  historic  and  mysterious.  About  them 
cluster  picturesque  memories,  legends  innumerable,  trage- 
dies unspeakable;  hardly  a  mile  but  has  its  story  of  daring  en- 
deavor and  wild  border  life.  Let  us  picture,  if  we  can,  some 
of  the  many  who  in  those  other  years  have  passed  this  way  — 
the  lonely  Indian  hunter,  with  his  primitive  weapons,  fearful 
lest  any  step  might  plunge  him  into  danger;  the  entire  vil- 
lage on  the  move  to  new  territory,  the  grave  warriors  stalking 
on  ahead,  the  laden  squaws  trailing  behind,  the  hardy  ponies 
dragging  the  tepees,  their  long  poles  scratching  up  the  soft 
turf;  the  painted  and  bedecked  war  party,  armed  and  silent, 
skulking  through  the  shadows;  the  black-robed  Jesuit,  count- 
ing his  beads  as  he  treads  the  weary  miles,  his  one  thought 
the  salvation  of  souls;  the  wandering  coureur  de  bois,  careless 
of  comfort,  and  ever  at  home  in  the  wilderness,  singing  as  he 
toils;  the  marching  troops  under  the  yellow  flag  of  Spain, 
the  French  fleur  de  Us,  the  cross  of  St.  George,  and  the  Ameri- 
can Stars  and  Stripes;  the  inflowing  settlers,  the  gay,  merry- 
making French,  the  grave-faced  Americans,  and  amid  them 
all  the  sombre-clad  nuns  of  the  Ursulines.  All  this  these 
trails  have  seen.  Here  struggled  and  toiled  the  early  immi- 
grants, seeking  spot  for  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness;  here 
the  dauntless  Kentucky  hunters  passed,  their  anxious  eyes 
marking  each  dark  covert  in  search  for  some  skulking  enemy; 
here  the  infuriated  Rangers  swept  along  in  hasty  pursuit  of 
their  savage  foe. 

History  holds  in  her  iron  hand  no  more  picturesque  story 
than  these  trails  could  reveal  were  their  guarded  secrets 
known.  Here  met  the  nations  of  the  Old  World  and  the 
New  —  Indian  and  white,  Spaniard,  Frenchman,  Briton,  and 


PRAIRIE   TRAILS  AND   THEIR   TRAVELLERS     119 

American;  priest  and    nun,  soldier  and  adventurer,  settler 
and  outlaw,  fair  patrician  women,  and   outpourings  from 
the  Salpetriere  and  other  hospitals  of  Paris.    They  have 
echoed  to  bursts  of  merry  laughter,  and  to  cries  of  agony 
and  implorations  of  despair.     Great  soldiers,  famous  border- 
men,  mighty  warriors  and  chiefs,  have  helped  to  wear  away 
this  sod.     Pontiac  and  Black  Hawk,  Keokuk  and  Tecumseh, 
Gomo  and  Little  Bird,  have  all  been  here.     Marquette  and 
Joliet,  La  Salle  and  Tonty,  Du  Lhut,  Clark,  Renault,  Bois- 
briant,  Dubuque,  Crogan,  Taylor,  Harrison,  have  all  in  turn 
borne  part  in  their  forgotten  history  —  have  seen  and  suffered, 
toiled  and  conquered,  along  these  trails  of  the  long  ago.    Here 
captives  —  agonized  women  and  children  —  have  been  hur- 
ried to  distant  villages,  and  a  fate  of  slavery;  along  here  men 
have  been  driven  under  the  merciless  whip  to  the  fiendish 
torture  of  the  stake.     What  suffering  and  hardship,  what 
yearning   and    heartsickness,   what   speechless    agony    and 
brave  hopes  these  silent  miles  have  witnessed!     And  amid  it 
all,  bold  and  undaunted  hearts  were  thus  steadily  shaping 
the  destinies  of  a  nation,  laying  the  foundations  of  a  mighty 
State,  while  through  the  wilderness,  and  along  these  blotted 
traces,  they  bore  their  messages  of  hope  and  despair,  of 
peaceful  greeting  or  warlike  defiance. 

Among  these  earlier  trails  marking  the  Illinois  country, 
both  Indian  and  white,  although  as  a  rule  the  latter  utilized 
the  experience  of  the  former,  it  is  only  necessary  to  trace  a 
few  of  the  more  important  historically.  That  we  are  en- 
abled to  do  this  with  some  degree  of  accuracy  is  owing  to  the 
careful  map-making  of  Rufus  Blanchard. 

While  not  the  oldest  by  many  years,  the  Sauk  trail  is  in 
some  respects  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  clearly  marked. 
It  formed  the  pathway  along  which  each  recurring  year  the 
Sacs  and  Foxes  travelled  from  their  great  village  on  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  to  Maiden  in  Canada,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  receiving  their  annuities  from  the  English  government. 


120  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

It  was  what  might  be  denominated  as  a  broad  trail,  the 
large  number  of  men,  women,  and  children  passing  along  it, 
with  ponies  dragging  their  tepees  and  household  equipments, 
leaving  a  wide  mark  across  the  prairies.  This  trail  followed 
as  nearly  a  straight  line  eastward  as  the  nature  of  the  country 
would  permit,  and  as  a  great  portion  of  the  territory  traversed 
was  level,  or  nearly  so,  there  are  reaches  where  modern  sec- 
tion line  roads  actually  follow  this  old  trace  for  miles.  Then 
the  original  pathfinder  would  meet  with  some  early,  but  now 
surmountable,  obstacle,  and  swerve  aside  to  avoid  it.  This 
broad  trail  commenced  its  long,  snake-like  course  at  the 
present  town  of  Milan,  near  the  mouth  of  Rock  River,  crossed 
the  more  northern  portion  of  Henry  County,  probably  touch- 
ing the  present  city  of  Geneseo,  and  then  followed  the  pleas- 
ant valley  of  Green  River  until  well  into  Bureau  County, 
where  it  entered  upon  the  higher,  rolling  prairie.  The  line 
swerved  here  more  northeasterly,  entering  the  present  limits 
of  La  Salle  County  some  two  miles  south  of  Mendota,  and, 
crossing  the  Fox  River  close  to  the  town  of  Sheridan,  swept 
over  the  southern  portion  of  Kendall  County, —  where  the 
old  Maramech  trails  converged,  —  finding  opportunity  to 
ford  the  Des  Plaines  slightly  below  Joliet,  and  finally  trav- 
ersed Cook  County,  about  two  miles  north  of  its  present 
southern  limit,  until  it  entered  Indiana.  It  must  have 
formed  a  sight  well  worth  the  seeing,  this  annual  migration  of 
Indians  across  the  unbroken  prairies.  These  were  both 
large  tribes,  their  confederation  peculiarly  strong,  and  no 
doubt  they  straggled  out  for  many  miles  along  the  way  as 
they  marched,  even  while  keeping  close  enough  to  each 
other  to  ward  off  hostile  attack.  As  they  thus  passed  through 
country  hunted  over  by  both  the  Pottawattomies  and  the 
Kickapoos,  it  is  hardly  likely  they  always  escaped  without 
paying  toll  of  blood.  As  late  as  1883,  it  is  said  by  com- 
petent observers,  the  marks  of  this  passage  were  still  visible 
in  many  places,  where  the  prairie  sod  had  remained  undis- 
turbed by  the  plough. 


PRAIRIE  TRAILS  AND  THEIR   TRAVELLERS     121 

The  old  villages  of  the  Peorias,  which  when  the  white 
men  first  came  were  established  at  the  mouth  of  the  Des 
Moines  River  in  Iowa,  were  from  a  very  early  age  directly 
connected  by  trail  with  the  populous  villages  of  the  Kaskas- 
kias  —  both  being  of  the  Illinois  stock  —  situated  upon  the 
great  bend  of  the  Illinois  River,  near  the  present  location  of 
Utica.  This  trail  was  quite  largely  travelled  by  Indian  trad- 
ing parties,  and  probably  at  some  time  formed  a  portion  of  a 
direct  line  of  savage  communication,  extending  between  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Chicago  portage.  It  was  considerably 
used  during  the  French  occupancy  of  the  country  by  the 
Jesuits,  and  by  French  traders  settled  near  the  Peoria  Lake. 
As  early  as  1720  there  was  a  French  trading-post  on  Illinois 
soil  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Des  Moines.  For  several  years 
this  path  was  believed  to  be  that  followed  by  Marquette  and 
Joliet  on  their  return  eastward,  but  later  investigations 
have  apparently  decided  that  their  return  was  made  directly 
up  the  Illinois  by  canoe  from  its  mouth.  This  old  trail  held 
its  course  across  the  present  counties  of  Hancock,  Warren, 
Knox,  Stark,  and  Bureau,  but  so  far  as  known  has  left  no 
existing  trace. 

The  overland  trail  between  Kaskaskia  and  Detroit,  laid 
out  and  used  by  the  French  for  both  trading  and  military 
purposes,  was  very  early  established.  The  date  when  it  was 
first  passed  over  by  whites  has  not  been  recorded,  but  it  was 
probably  as  early  as  1705  or  1706.  It  was  undoubtedly 
formed  largely  by  the  uniting  together  of  shorter  original 
Indian  trails,  although  the  necessity  of  transportation  would 
cause  white  travellers  to  avoid  obstacles  to  which  an  Indian 
would  remain  entirely  indifferent.  This  trail  was  in  almost 
constant  use  for  years,  wagons  even  being  driven  on  it, 
and  considerable  detachments  of  troops  marching  its  entire 
distance.  To  this  day  it  remains,  along  part  of  its  course, 
a  legal  highway  in  continual  use.  As  originally  laid  out  it 
ran  almost  directly  northeast  across  the  State  from  Kaskaskia 


122  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

to  Danville,  bisecting  the  Counties  of  Randolph,  Washington, 
Marion,  Effingham,  Cumberland,  Coles,  Edgar,  and  Vermil- 
ion. The  present  cities  of  Elkhorn,  Salem,  and  Charleston 
lie  upon  the  old  route.  Rivers  of  any  considerable  size 
seem  to  have  been  successfully  avoided,  although  smaller 
streams  were  crossed  in  plenty,  Salt  Creek  and  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Embarras  being  of  most  importance.  For 
the  greater  distance  in  Illinois  the  line  of  passage  led  across 
high,  level  prairie  land,  dotted  over  with  groves,  the  banks 
of  the  streams  being  generally  heavily  wooded.  It  must 
in  that  day  have  been  a  beautiful  country  in  all  its  virgin 
freshness,  and  as  the  early  French  residents  were  usually 
on  friendly  terms  with  the  Indian  tribes  along  the  way  — 
the  Piankishaws  and  Miamis,  —  there  no  doubt  passed 
over  its  winding  course  many  a  merry  party  to  whom  the 
long  trip  proved  a  continual  pleasure.  Much  of  romantic 
interest  clusters  about  the  memory  of  this  old-time  track 
across  the  wilderness.  In  those  far-off  days  of  French 
ascendency,  when  Fort  de  Chartres  was  the  centre  of  French 
power  in  the  great  valley,  and  the  commandant  of  the  Illinois 
country  ruled  as  a  little  king,  this  old  trail  witnessed  many 
a  gay  and  glittering  cavalcade.  Here  passed  fair  maids 
and  merry  matrons  of  France,  not  a  few  in  the  ruffled 
petticoat  and  high-heeled  shoes  of  fashion;  beside  them 
gallant  soldiers  rode  with  bow  and  smile,  their  lace- 
trimmed  uniforms  gorgeous  in  the  sunshine.  Courtiers  of 
the  French  court,  friends  of  the  great  Louis,  travelled  these 
sombre  miles  of  wilderness,  passing  the  time  with  quip  and 
fancy,  while  many  an  adventurer,  his  sole  wealth  the  glit- 
tering sword  at  his  side,  pressed  forward  hopefully  to 
his  fate  in  the  West.  Troops,  travel-stained  and  weary, 
marched  it  on  their  way  to  battle  against  the  English  out- 
posts; wild  raiding  parties  swept  over  it  through  the 
dense  night  shadows,  and  many  a  despatch-bearer,  lying 
low  upon  his  horse's  neck,  speeded  day  and  night  with  his 


PRAIRIE  TRAILS  AND  THEIR   TRAVELLERS     123 

precious  message.  Would  that  the  dead  lips  might  open 
to  tell  again  the  thousand  forgotten  stories  haunting  every 
camping  spot,  every  shaded  nook,  through  which  the  old 
trail  ran. 

But  the  hour  came  when  the  French  power  grew  weak, 
and  all  this  fair  country  fell  into  English  hands,  and  they 
in  turn  were  compelled  to  deliver  up  their  brief  authority 
to  American  bordermen.  The  trail  of  George  Rogers 
Clark,  made  in  1778  from  near  the  site  of  Fort  Massac  on 
the  banks  of  the  Ohio  River  to  Kaskaskia,  marks  an  epoch 
in  American  history  of  transcendent  importance.  Nothing 
ever  occurring  in  the  West  has  resulted  in  greater  permanent 
benefit  to  the  people  of  the  United  States.  In  later  years 
this  faint  track  became  a  largely  used  trail  for  the  early 
white  settlers,  pouring  in  by  way  of  the  Ohio.  It  was  long 
a  regular  line  of  communication  between  Golconda  and 
the  settlements  in  the  American  Bottom,  travelled  by  many 
a  hardy  immigrant  into  this  new  land.  A  puzzled  guide 
caused  Clark  to  wander  somewhat  ;  and  to  improve  the 
trail  by  straightening  it  for  a  small  portion  of  the  way,  was 
a  task  ably  performed  in  1821  by  Mr.  Worthen.  A  well- 
marked  trail,  laid  out  by  the  French  and  distinguished  by 
red  signs  painted  on  trees,  ran,  via  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio, 
between  Massac  and  Chartres.  Clark's  failure  to  use  this 
was  doubtless  through  fear  of  discovery  on  the  way. 

Clark,  with  his  little  band  of  Kentucky  riflemen,  left 
the  Ohio  River,  close  to  Fort  Massac,  at  the  mouth  of  a 
small  creek  just  above  where  the  city  of  Metropolis  now 
stands,  and  plunged  out  into  what  was  to  him  an  unknown 
wilderness.  He  aimed  at  first  somewhat  northeasterly, 
seeking  possibly  thus  to  avoid  serious  entanglement  in  the 
Ozark  Hills,  until  his  column  had  reached  to  nearly  the 
centre  of  what  is  now  Pope  County,  when  he  swerved  more 
westerly,  his  course  becoming,  because  of  poor  guidance, 
decidedly  irregular  as  they  traversed  what  is  now  Williamson 


124  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

County.  Their  path  led  across  the  present  site  of  Marion, 
whence  the  direction  was  straight  north  until  the  Perry 
County  line  had  been  crossed.  Clark  was  by  this  time 
directly  east  of  Kaskaskia,  and  his  march  to  that  place  be- 
came as  straight  as  natural  obstacles  would  permit. 

The  following  year  he  possessed  the  decided  advantage 
of  having  competent  French  guides  for  his  march  toward 
Vincennes.  These  led  him  along  a  path  which,  for  at  least 
a  large  portion  of  the  way,  had  been  frequently  travelled 
before,  it  being  a  connecting  trail  used  by  traders  since 
about  the  year  1710,  when  Post  Vincennes  was  first  estab- 
lished. The  mail  route  between  these  places,  which  was 
opened  in  1805,  chose  a  more  northern  course,  thus  avoiding 
the  necessity  of  crossing  those  streams  which  gave  so  much 
trouble  to  Clark.  This  trail,  thus  utilized  by  that  gallant 
band  of  frontiersmen  in  their  desperate  midwinter  march 
through  the  wilderness,  and  along  which  they  toiled  and 
suffered  for  so  great  a  purpose  in  the  making  of  the  history 
of  Illinois,  ought  to  be  traced  with  care  and  marked  by  suit- 
able monuments  along  its  entire  course.  To-day  its  direc- 
tion can  only  be  approximately  given,  as  the  best  modern 
authorities  differ  somewhat  widely  regarding  details.  This 
much,  however,  we  know  beyond  probable  dispute  —  it 
led,  in  somewhat  irregular  course,  because  of  natural  diffi- 
culties, through  Randolph  County,  probably  crossing  into 
the  northwestern  corner  of  Perry  a  little  west  of  the  present 
village  of  Craig,  touching  Washington  County  in  its  south- 
eastern corner,  and  fording  Beaucoup  Creek  a  few  miles 
east  of  Radom.  Jefferson  County  was  crossed  very  nearly 
at  its  centre,  the  column  passing  perhaps  a  mile  south  of 
the  present  city  of  Mount  Vernon,  later  entering  Wayne 
County  close  to  Keene's  Station,  just  east  of  which  they 
forded  Skillet  Fork.  Here  the  course  became  more  north- 
erly, the  trail  passing  some  five  or  six  miles  north  of  Fairfield, 
and  striking  the  overflowing  waters  of  the  Little  Wabash 


PRAIRIE  TRAILS  AND  THEIR   TRAVELLERS     125 

not  far  from  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Maple  Grove,  in  the 
extreme  northwest  corner  of  Edwards  County.  Richland 
was  crossed  near  the  present  site  of  Parkersburg,  the  Bon 
Pas  River  forded  near  where  the  town  of  the  same  name 
now  stands,  and  Lawrence  County  was  entered  somewhat 
east  of  Henryville.  The  swollen  waters  of  the  Embarras 
were  probably  first  encountered  some  four  or  five  miles 
south  of  Lawrenceville,  from  which  point  these  undaunted 
bordermen  waded  and  swam  until  they  attained  the  junction 
of  the  Wabash. 

Crossing  over  this  same  territory  to-day,  driving  easily 
across  the  high  rolling  prairies,  the  seemingly  level  plains, 
and  through  pleasant  groves,  descending  into  wide,  well- 
drained  valleys,  and  crossing  the  slowly  flowing  streams 
by  means  of  substantial  bridges,  the  traveller  can  hardly 
imagine  the  innumerable  difficulties,  the  unspeakable  hard- 
ships, surrounding  every  mile  of  that  early  march.  There 
can  come  to  him  scarcely  a  fair  conception  of  what  a 
freshet  meant  to  this  country  in  that  day  of  the  long  ago, 
or  of  the  immense  downrush  of  water  which  rendered  this 
wilderness  advance  one  of  the  greatest  military  achieve- 
ments of  the  century  in  which  it  took  place.  Only  men 
of  iron,  long  trained  to  combat  all  the  hardships  of  the 
frontier,  animated  by  the  highest  conception  of  duty,  and 
commanded  and  inspired  by  an  indomitable  leader,  could 
ever  have  accomplished  it  and  gone  forward  to  grim  battle 
at  its  end.  Illinois  can  well  afford  to  mark  with  enduring 
memorials  that  course  along  which  they  so  sternly  struggled 
to  final  victory  and  the  winning  of  an  empire  to  the  United 
States. 

Other  trails  leading  in  various  directions  through  this 
Illinois  country  are  of  less  historic  and  romantic  interest, 
and  their  story  may  be  outlined  in  few  words.  One  of  the 
most  interesting  is  that  lonely  track  left  across  the  northern 
counties  by  James  Watson  Webb,  in  1822.  At  that  time, 


i26  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

being  an  officer  stationed  at  Fort  Dearborn  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Chicago  River  (rebuilt  in  1816),  he  volunteered  to 
bear  tidings  of  a  threatened  Indian  uprising  to  the  unsus- 
pecting garrison  stationed  at  Fort  Armstrong,  which  stood 
at  the  lower  extremity  of  Rock  Island  looking  down  the 
majestic  Mississippi.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  a  severe  Winter, 
and  he  travelled  alone,  without  a  guide,  through  unknown 
territory  roamed  over  by  hostile  savages.  His  first  point 
of  destination  was  La  Sallier's  trading-post,  situated  on  the 
south  bank  of  Rock  River,  about  on  the  line  now  exist- 
ing between  Lee  and  Ogle  Counties,  a  few  miles  north  of 
Dixon.  This  had  just  been  established,  and  was  the  sole 
point  of  civilization  in  all  that  country.  From  here  Webb's 
course  was  laid  almost  directly  to  the  Mississippi.  Reaching 
that  river  in  the  vicinity  of  Fulton,  he  proceeded  down  the 
eastern  bank  until  he  arrived  in  safety  at  Rock  Island,  and 
delivered  his  'warning.  It  was  a  most  perilous  journey, 
not  only  on  account  of  the  hostiles  haunting  every  mile  of 
it,  but  also  the  natural  dangers  of  the  way,  greatly  accented 
by  the  severe  season  during  which  it  was  accomplished. 
The  territory  covered  by  this  solitary  traveller  included 
Cook,  Du  Page,  Kane,  De  Kalb,  Lee,  Whiteside,  and  Rock 
Island  Counties.  On  his  return  trip  Webb  chose  a  more 
southern  route  as  being  safer,  crossing  Henry  and  Bureau 
Counties,  until  he  reached  the  Illinois  River,  when  the 
water-ways  were  followed  back  to  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago. 
The  route  of  Governor  Edwards  into  the  Indian  country 
during  the  War  of  1812  started  at  Camp  Russell,  just  above 
the  present  site  of  Edwardsville,  in  Madison  County,  and 
passed  directly  north  through  Carlinville,  Macoupin  County, 
sweeping  somewhat  east  of  where  Springfield  now  stands, 
and  then  led  about  three  miles  west  of  the  present  city  of 
Lincoln.  Just  across  the  southern  line  of  Tazewell  County, 
near  the  present  town  of  Centre,  they  discovered  their  first 
Kickapoo  village,  and  destroyed  it.  From  this  point  their 


PRAIRIE  TRAILS  AND  THEIR   TRAVELLERS     127 

march  was  almost  directly  north,  until  they  came  to  the 
second  village  along  the  eastern  bluffs  of  the  Illinois,  which 
after  a  skirmish  was  also  destroyed.  This  must  have 
occurred  not  far  from  the  post-office  of  Spring  Bay.  Hop- 
kins's  rather  disgraceful  raid  with  his  mounted  Kentucky 
riflemen,  from  Fort  Harrison  on  the  Wabash,  expect- 
ing to  cooperate  with  Edwards's  column,  succeeded  in 
crossing  Edgar,  Vermilion,  Champaign,  and  Ford  Coun- 
ties. Livingston  was  penetrated  possibly  as  far  as  the  town 
of  Strawn,  where  the  sight  of  distant  raging  prairie  fires 
caused  the  soldiers  to  mutiny  and  retreat. 

General  Howard's  more  important  advance  into  the 
Indian  country  the  following  year  started  from  the  same 
point  as  did  Governor  Edwards's,  but  pursued  an  entirely 
different  route.  His  command  followed  the  course  of  the 
Mississippi  until  opposite  Fort  Madison,  Iowa,  when  it 
struck  directly  southeast  across  Hancock,  McDonough,  and 
Fulton  Counties  to  the  Illinois  River,  opposite  the  site  of 
Havana.  From  here,  cutting  across  the  sharper  bends  in 
the  stream,  the  general  course  of  the  river  was  followed  until 
Gomo's  village,  where  Chillicothe  now  stands,  was  reached 
and  destroyed. 

The  Fort  Clark  and  Wabash  trail  was  a  well-travelled 
road  after  about  the  year  1815,  and  was  probably  used  long 
before  that  date.  It  led  from  the  site  of  Terre  Haute,  Indi- 
ana, to  the  north  shore  of  Peoria  Lake,  and  was  extensively 
used  by  immigrants,  as  well  as  traders.  Kellogg's  trail  was 
the  first  overland  route  between  Peoria  and  Galena.  It 
was  laid  out  by  an  early  settler  of  that  name  in  1825,  and  was 
heavily  travelled  for  many  years.  It  crossed  Marshall, 
Bureau,  Lee,  Ogle,  Stephenson,  and  Jo  Daviess  Counties. 
The  first  mail  route  in  the  State  was  established  in  1805, 
extending  from  St.  Louis  to  Vincennes,  with  a  branch  to 
Kaskaskia.  It  crossed  the  present  sites  of  Belleville,  Car- 
lyle,  Salem,  Maybury,  and  Lawrenceville,  and  much  of  the 


I28  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

road  is  still  preserved.  The  second  ran  from  where  Mount 
Carmel  now  stands  south  to  Shawneetown,  and  was  placed 
in  operation  in  1807.  Chicago  possessed  a  mail  route  run- 
ning south  to  Danville  in  1832,  and  one  west  to  Dixon  in 
1834.  Ottawa  and  St.  Charles  were  thus  connected  as  early 
as  1830,  and  Galena  was  reached  via  the  Dixon  route  in 
1834.  Criss-crossing  the  State  were  many  other  trails  of  less 
importance,  yet  all  alike  holding  much  of  interest  to  those 
who  desire  information  about  early  frontier  life.  The  old 
roads  growing  out  of  these  dim  tracks  across  the  wilderness 
were  the  arteries  through  which  flowed  the  life  blood  of 
Illinois. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE    FRENCH    SETTLEMENTS 

'  I  ^HE  establishment  by  La  Salle  of  Fort  St.  Louis  on  the 
-L  summit  of  Starved  Rock  attracted  to  that  immediate 
neighborhood  a  number  of  adventurous  Frenchmen,  voy- 
ageurs,  coureurs  de  hois,  soldiers,  fur  traders,  and  priests. 
Some  of  these  were  accompanied  by  women  of  their  own  race, 
or  were  afterwards  joined  by  such,  while  others  established 
at  least  temporary  homes  by  contracting  alliances  with 
Indian  squaws.  This  post  remained  in  existence  from  1682 
until  at  least  1702,  when  Tonty  seems  to  have  finally  aban- 
doned it,  and  gone  south.  During  those  twenty  years  this 
changeable  population  of  natural  wanderers  established 
small  trading-posts  at  various  points  convenient  to  tributary 
streams,  resulting  in  a  considerable  development  of  the  fur 
trade,  while  the  indefatigable  priests  erected  many  a  rude 
chapel  of  logs  throughout  the  near-by  wilderness  wherein 
they  sought  to  gather  closely  their  dusky  flocks.  Yet 
all  this  bore  little  semblance  to  permanent  settlement,  nor 
did  it  endure  any  length  of  time  beyond  the  abandonment 
of  the  protecting  fort. 

The  oldest  permanent  settlement  by  Europeans,  not 
only  in  Illinois,  but  in  the  entire  Mississippi  valley,  must  be 
credited  to  Kaskaskia,  or,  more  properly  perhaps,  Notre 
Dame  de  Cascasquias,  which  was  located  on  the  west  bank 
some  six  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  river  bearing  that 
name,  and  within  the  limits  of  the  present  county  of  Ran- 
dolph. As  was  commonly  the  case  along  the  French  frontier 
it  was  first  an  Indian  village,  then  a  missionary  station,  but 

slowly  gathered  to  it  a  vagrant  white  population.    The  origi- 

129 


i3o  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

nal  mission  from  which  this  later  settlement  sprung,  had 
been  established  with  the  early  visit  of  Pere  Marquette  to 
the  great  village  of  the  Illinois  (likewise  called  Kaskaskia),  on 
the  river  of  that  name,  but  was  removed  when  the  discom- 
fited tribes  fled  southward  for  safety  from  their  enemies. 
Fathers  Gravier  and  Marest,  the  latter  the  priest  then  in 
charge  at  the  Illinois  town,  directed  the  change  which  was 
effected  some  time  prior  to  1700,  although  the  exact  date  is 
unknown.  Marest  remained  with  them  in  their  new  home, 
but  was  afterwards  succeeded  by  Fathers  Binneteau  and 
Pinet.  These  were  all  Jesuits.  The  latter  established  the 
mission  and  village  of  Cahokia,  sixty  miles  farther  north, 
and  was  peculiarly  successful  in  his  Indian  labors,  the 
rude  chapel  built  soon  proving  too  small  to  contain  those 
seeking  his  ministrations.  The  tribes  directly  under  his 
charge  were  the  Tamaroas  and  Cahokias.  Father  Binne- 
teau remained  at  the  original  post,  and  proved  himself  a 
zealous  missionary.  The  duties  of  his  office  compelling 
him  to  accompany  his  flock  of  Kaskaskias  on  one  of  their 
long  hunting  trips  to  the  upland  plains  of  the  Mississippi,  he 
met  his  death.  Now  stifled  in  the  tall  grass,  now  panting 
with  thirst  on  the  arid  prairie,  parched  by  day  with  heat, 
and  at  night  lying  on  the  ground  exposed  to  chilling  dews, 
he  was  seized  with  a  mortal  fever,  and  passed  away  in 
true  martyrdom.  Only  a  little  later  his  companion  priest, 
Father  Pinet,  also  died. 

But  however  dangerous  the  work  or  desperate  the  hard- 
ships, there  was  never  lack  of  volunteers  among  these  sol- 
diers of  the  Cross.  Father  Marest,  who  had  previous 
to  his  Illinois  labors  been  telling  the  Christ  story  to  the 
ice-bound  denizens  of  the  Hudson  Bay  country,  came  down 
the  streams  from  the  northward  and  took  up  again  the 
heavy  burdens  of  this  Illinois  mission.  A  glimpse  of  what 
his  duties  involved  appears  in  his  correspondence,  where 
he  writes : 


THE  FRENCH  SETTLEMENTS  131 

"  Our  life  is  spent  in  roaming  through  thick  woods,  in  clamber- 
ing over  hills,  in  paddling  canoes  across  lakes  and  rivers,  to  catch  a 
poor  savage  whom  we  can  neither  tame  by  teachings  nor  caresses." 

On  Good  Friday,  1711,  he  started  for  the  village  of  the 
Peorias,  and  in  his  description  of  his  journey  writes: 

"I  departed,  having  nothing  about  me  but  my  crucifix  and 
breviary,  being  accompanied  by  only  two  savages,  who  might 
abandon  me  from  levity,  or  might  fly  through  fear  of  enemies.  The 
terror  of  these  vast,  uninhabitable  regions,  in  which  for  twelve  days 
not  a  single  soul  was  seen,  almost  took  away  my  courage.  This 
was  a  journey  wherein  there  was  no  village,  no  bridge,  no  ferry- 
boat, no  house,  no  beaten  path  ;  and  over  boundless  prairies,  inter- 
sected by  rivulets  and  rivers,  through  forests  and  thickets  filled  with 
briars  and  thorns,  through  marshes  in  which  we  sometimes  plunged 
to  the  girdle." 

Early  in  the  eighteenth  century  he  was  joined  in  his  labors 
by  Father  Mermet,  who  had  previously  founded  a  separate 
mission  on  the  Ohio  at  the  site  of  Fort  Massac.  Mermet 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  who  ever  buried  their 
talents  in  the  wilderness  inspired  by  religious  enthusiasm. 
He  became  the  very  soul  of  the  mission  at  Kaskaskia,  and 
the  influence  of  his  life  and  work  was  felt  throughout  the 
entire  Illinois  country.  To  show  the  condition  of  the  Jesuit 
mission,  as  well  as  a  pen-picture  of  the  growing  French 
settlements,  we  can  do  no  better  than  quote  from  Father 
Charlevoix,  who  visited  there  in  1721.  He  writes: 

"  We  lay  last  night  in  the  village  of  the  Cahokias  and  Tama- 
roas,  two  Illinois  tribes  which  have  been  united,  and  compose  no 
very  numerous  canton.  This  village  is  situated  on  a  very  small 
river  which  runs  from  the  east,  and  has  no  water  except  in  the 
Spring.  On  this  account  we  had  to  walk  half  a  league  before  we 
could  get  to  our  cabins.  I  was  astonished  that  such  a  poor  situation 
had  been  selected  when  there  were  so  many  good  ones.  But  I  was 
told  the  Mississippi  washed  the  foot  of  the  village  when  it  was 
built ;  that  in  three  years  it  had  shifted  its  course  half  a  league 


I32  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

farther  to  the  west,  and  that  they  were  now  thinking  of  changing 
their  habitation,  which  is  no  great  affair  among  these  Indians.  I 
passed  the  night  with  the  missionaries,  who  are  two  ecclesiastics 
from  the  Seminary  of  Quebec,  formerly  my  disciples,  but  they 
must  now  be  my  masters.  Yesterday  I  arrived  at  Kaskaskia  about 
nine  o'clock.  The  Jesuits  here  have  a  very  flourishing  mission, 
which  has  lately  been  divided  into  two.  The  most  numerous  one 
is  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  of  which  two  Jesuits  have  the 
spiritual  direction.  Half  a  league  below  stands  Fort  Chartres, 
about  the  distance  of  a  musket-shot  from  the  river.  The  French 
are  now  beginning  to  settle  the  country  between  the  fort  and  the 
first  mission.  Four  leagues  farther,  and  about  a  league  from  the 
river,  is  a  large  village,  inhabited  by  the  French,  who  are  almost  all 
Canadians,  and  have  a  Jesuit  for  their  curate.  The  second  village 
of  the  Illinois  lies  farther  up  the  country." 

The  growth  of  the  French  population  was  slow  and  un- 
certain, while  the  wandering  character  of  the  men,  princi- 
pally voyageurs  and  fur  hunters,  tended  to  constant  change 
with  little  desire  for  permanent  improvement.  Captain 
Pitman,  who  visited  the  Illinois  country  as  late  as  1766, 
during  the  term  of  British  occupancy,  described  the  condi- 
tion of  the  towns  as  they  then  appeared.  Of  Kaskaskia, 
which  contained  about  one  hundred  families  of  French  and 
English,  many  of  the  original  French  inhabitants  having 
gone  to  St.  Louis,  he  writes: 

"It  is  the  most  considerable  settlement  in  the  country  of  the 
Illinois,  as  well  from  its  number  of  inhabitants  as  from  its  advanta- 
geous situation.  .  .  .  Mons.  Paget  was  the  first  who  intro- 
duced water  mills  in  this  country,  and  he  constructed  a  very  fine 
one  on  the  river  Cascasquias,  which  was  both  for  grinding  corn  and 
sawing  boards.  It  lies  about  one  mile  from  the  village.  The  mill 
proved  fatal  to  him,  he  being  killed  as  he  was  working  it  with  two 
negroes,  by  a  party  of  Cherokees,  in  the  year  1764.  The  principal, 
buildings  are  the  Church  and  Jesuit's  house  which  has  a  small  s 
chapel  adjoining  it;  these,  as  well  as  some  other  houses  in  the 
village,  are  built  of  stone,  and,  considering  this  part  of  the  world, 


THE  FRENCH  SETTLEMENTS  133 

make  a  very  good  appearance.  The  Jesuit's  plantation  consisted 
of  two  hundred  and  forty  arpents  (an  arpent  is  85-100  of  an  acre) 
of  cultivated  land,  a  very  good  stock  of  cattle,  and  a  brewery  ? 
which  was  sold  by  the  French  commandant  after  the  country  was 
ceded  to  the  English,  in  consequence  of  the  suppression  of  the 
Order.  Mons.  Beauvais  was  the  purchaser,  who  is  the  richest  of 
the  English  subjects  in  this  country ;  he  keeps  eighty  slaves ;  he 
furnishes  86,000  weight  of  flour  to  the  King's  magazine,  which 
was  only  part  of  the  harvest  he  reaped  in  one  year." 

The  French  settlements  along  the  lower  Mississippi 
consisted  of  several  small  towns  within  a  comparatively 
small  radius,  of  which  Kaskaskia  was  the  centre  and  chief, 
as  well  as  the  oldest.  In  all  save  locality  they  were  much 
alike,  although  the  settlers  of  Kaskaskia  largely  came  from 
New  Orleans,  and  those  of  Cahokia  from  Canada.  Prairie 
du  Rocher  was  fourteen  miles  from  Kaskaskia,  and  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  ( :  Fort  Chartres.  At  the  time 
of  English  occupancy  it  contained  twenty-two  houses,  each 
occupied  by  a  family.  Saint  Phillipe  was  about  five  miles 
from  Chartres  on  the  road  to  Kaoquias.  It  contained 
sixteen  houses  and  a  small  church,  but  all  the  inhabitants, 
excepting  the  captain  of  the  militia  company,  deserted  it 
when  the  English  arrived,  and  crossed  the  Mississippi  into 
Missouri.  Kaoquias,  or  Cahokia,  was  established  fifteen 
leagues  from  Chartres,  and  six  leagues  below  the  mouth  of 
the  Missouri  River.  The  village  was  directly  opposite  the 
centre  of  Duncan's  Island,  and  thus  differing  from  the  other 
French  villages  was  long  and  straggling,  being  three-fourths 
of  a  mile  from  one  end  to  the  other.  In  its  best  days  it  con- 
tained a  church  and  forty-five  dwelling-houses.  The  situ- 
ation was  poor,  as  in  time  of  flood  it  was  generally  covered 
two  or  three  feet  deep.  The  land  here  occupied  had  been 
purchased  of  the  Indians  by  the  Canadian  inhabitants,  many 
of  whom  married  native  women.  The  dwellers  at  this 
point  were  largely  hunters,  or  interested  in  the  fur  trade, 


I34  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

paying  small  attention  to  agriculture,  and  making  few 
permanent  improvements.  The  mission  of  St.  Sulpice, 
however,  had  a  fine  plantation  near  by,  with  an  excellent 
house  and  mill.  When  the  English  came  they  sold  out  at 
a  great  sacrifice,  and  returned  to  France. 

The  growth  of  these  isolated  settlements  during  the 
sixty  odd  years  of  French  rule  was  not  rapid,  nor  were  many 
of  the  settlers  who  drifted  into  the  country  permanent  res- 
idents. The  majority  came  and  went,  mere  vagabonds  of 
the  frontier.  Yet  not  a  few  enterprising  Canadians  were 
attracted  thither  by  the  climate,  finding  homes  along  the 
Illinois,  Mississippi,  and  Wabash.  Fur-trading  stations 
sprang  up  everywhere  along  the  principal  water-courses, 
and  much  commerce  of  this  kind  found  its  way  over  the 
long  leagues  to  Montreal.  A  little  later,  under  the  stim- 
ulus of  individual  enterprise,  and  the  advice  of  military 
commandants,  the  course  of  trade  gradually  changed,  until 
New  Orleans  became  the  great  mart  of  the  Illinois  country. 
Regular  cargoes  of  pork,  flour,  bacon,  tallow,  hides,  and 
leather  were  annually  transported  in  barges  down  the  broad 
Mississippi  and  sold.  On  the  return  trip  the  boats  were 
often  laden  with  rice,  indigo,  sugar,  and  European  fabrics. 
The  decade  commencing  with  1740  and  closing  with  1750 
was  the  most  prosperous. 

But  earlier  even  than  these,  were  those  first  French 
settlers  who  came  in  with  La  Salle,  and  were  granted  con- 
cessions of  land  under  his  patent.  These  were  largely 
engages,  employed  either  about  Fort  St.  Louis,  or  in  the 
fur  trade  early  springing  up  in  that  immediate  neighborhood. 
The  names  of  some  twenty  or  more  of  these  earliest  colonists 
of  Illinois  are  preserved  in  the  records  of  the  Superior  Council 
of  Quebec,  and  are  worthy  of  record.  Among  them  Mason 
gives  us  the  following  list:  Riverin,  Pierre  Chevet,  Fra^ois 
Pachot,  Chanjou,  Fra^ois  Hageur,  Louis  Le  Vasseur, 
Mathieu  Martin,  Fra^ois  Charron,  les  Sieurs  d'Artigny 


THE  FRENCH  SETTLEMENTS  135 

and  La  Chesnaye,  Jacque  de  Faye,  Pierre  Le  Vasseur,  Michel 
Guyon,  Poisset,  Andre  de  Chaulne,  Marie  Joseph  le  Neuf, 
Michel  de  Grig,  Philipes  Osnault,  Jean  Petit,  Rene  Fegeret, 
les  Sieurs  Laport,  Louvigny,  and  St.  Castin,  Francois,  de  la 
Forest,  Henri  de  Tonty,  and  the  Jesuit  Fathers.  Bold 
voyageurs  probably  the  most  of  them,  and  loyal  to  their 
great  leader,  every  man  having  back  of  him  a  life  of  strange 
adventure  in  the  wilderness.  But  their  colony  lived  only  while 
St.  Louis  crowned  the  rock;  and  when  the  garrison  marched 
forth  for  the  last  time  and  left  only  a  ruin  behind,  the  scat- 
tered settlers  were  not  long  in  following.  Some  may  have 
halted  at  the  Peoria  Straits  and  founded  De  Pe,  but  no 
doubt  the  majority  drifted  down  the  rivers  to  old  Kaskaskia. 
This  latter  town,  the  principal  point  of  colonization  as 
well  as  of  political  and  social  power  during  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years,  and  under  the  shadow  of  three  flags,  was  in 
most  respects  a  typical  French  village  of  its  age.  Nestled 
as  closely  as  possible  to  the  river,  along  the  banks  of  which 
its  little  houses  clung  lovingly,  it  never  lost  its  picturesque 
character.  Many  species  of  architecture  fronted  the  nar- 
row, stone-paved  streets,  although  most  of  the  homes  were 
of  the  primitive  French  style,  low  and  broad,  with  dormer 
windows,  spacious  porches,  great  masses  of  roses  often  blos- 
soming to  the  roofs.  Yet  there  were  brick  mansions  also, 
the  material  transported  from  far  down  the  Ohio,  while  not 
a  few  were  constructed  of  stone,  quarried  from  the  neigh- 
boring bluffs.  The  Court-house,  the  House  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  the  spacious  home  occupied  by  John  Edgar,  were  per- 
haps the  most  notable  of  these,  but  across  the  river,  nestling 
beneath  the  bluff  shadow,  were  other  residences,  such  as 
that  of  Pierre  Menard,  where  many  of  the  more  exclusive 
chose  to  live.  The  streets,  shaded  by  trees,  narrow,  not 
over  straight  or  regular,  but  often  bordered  by  beds  of 
flowers,  were  great  meeting-places  in  the  moonlit  Summer 
evenings,  and  many,  indeed,  were  the  types  to  be  met  saun- 


I36  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

tering  idly  there,  the  air  ringing  with  gossiping  voices  and 
cheery  laughter,  while  back  on  the  broad  piazzas,  little 
family  groups  looked  forth  on  the  gay  spectacle,  chatting 
volubly  over  their  light  wine. 

The  peculiar  characteristics  of  these  French  colonists 
have  come  down  to  us  in  little  glimpses  from  the  histories  of 
Governors  Ford  and  Reynolds,  who  saw  something  of  their 
last  days,  and  the  pictures  have  been  added  to  by  the  re- 
searches of  Davidson  and  Stuve.  The  work  of  this  chapter 
is  but  a  resume  of  their  combined  labor. 

There  was  much  that  was  peculiar  and  interesting  about 
these  early  French  frontier  settlements  and  their  people. 
Unlike  the  English  colonists  who  usually  established  them- 
selves in  widely  scattered  independence,  it  was  the  French 
nature  to  abide  in  compact  villages.  These  were  generally 
built  on  some  stream,  contiguous  to  timber  and  prairie,  that 
they  might  thus  have  close  at  hand  the  three  essentials  to 
such  easy  living  as  they  loved  —  water,  fuel,  and  ground 
for  tillage.  While  brick  and  stone  were  occasionally  used, 
their  dwellings  were  commonly  of  the  most  primitive  sort. 
The  framework  consisted  of  posts  planted  in  the  earth  for 
three  or  four  feet,  and  then  strongly  bound  together  by 
cross  ties.  The  interstices  were  filled  with  mortar,  mixed 
with  straw  or  Spanish  moss.  The  walls  within  and  without 
were  covered  with  white  lime,  lending  an  air  of  cleanliness 
to  the  entire  village.  Nearly  every  such  house  had  its  wide 
piazza  in  front  where  the  family  found  a  pleasant  spot  to 
while  away  the  sultry  evenings.  Probably  not  one  of  these 
primitive  homes  has  survived.  With  ample  room  for  broad 
streets,  they  preferred  to  leave  theirs  as  narrow  as  possible, 
and,  as  a  result,  the  merry  villagers  could  sit  on  their  own 
porches  and  talk  across  with  their  near-by  neighbors.  Hav- 
ing no  machinery  they  split  trees  into  slabs  for  flooring, 
doors,  and  other  purposes,  while  their  houses  were  thatched 
with  straw.  Everywhere  the  social  instincts  of  the  people 


THE  FRENCH  SETTLEMENTS  137 

found  outward  expression.  As  a  general  rule  their  dwell- 
ings were  grouped  as  closely  together  as  possible.  Each 
settlement  commonly  contained  its  patriarchal  homestead* 
which  was  occupied  by  the  oldest  existing  member  of  the 
family.  About  this  sprung  up  a  cluster  of  smaller  houses, 
the  residence  of  each  child  or  grandchild.  Oftentimes  the 
aged  patriarch  became  the  centre  of  a  dozen  growing  fam- 
ilies of  his  own  lineage,  and  embracing  three,  four,  or  more 
generations.  Much  was  ever  made  of  the  family  life,  and 
ties  of  relationship  were  strong. 

All  such  villages  possessed  a  common  field  in  which  every 
inhabitant  was  supposed  to  be  equally  interested.  To  each 
was  assigned  a  portion,  the  extent  being  proportioned  to 
the  size  and  needs  of  his  family.  Everything  in  connection 
with  the  proper  cultivation  of  this  land  was  decided  by  the 
village  senate.  The  time  for  ploughing,  sowing,  and  har- 
vesting, even  the  form  and  arrangement  of  buildings,  were 
thus  decided  upon.  Besides  this  common  field  for  tillage, 
there  was  also  set  aside  a  pasture  which  was  free  to  all  the 
villagers,  as  was  likewise  their  supply  of  fuel.  Almost  with- 
out exception  no  mechanical  means  of  earning  a  living  was 
known.  Agriculture  and  hunting  were  the  principal  occu- 
pations of  the  permanent  residents,  although  voyageurs 
and  coureurs  de  lots  were  always  to  be  met  with  on  the  village 
streets.  Young  men  of  enterprise  often  drifted  out  into  the 
surrounding  wilderness,  as  employees  of  the  fur  trade  or 
boatmen  on  the  great  river,  to  return  only  at  long  intervals 
with  many  a  romantic  tale  of  the  strange  sights  seen,  or 
adventures  encountered.  The  dance  was  the  principal 
diversion  of  the  villagers,  and  was  made  a  part  of  every 
festival,  while  there  was  scarcely  a  home  but  contained  its 
fiddle,  and  capable  performer.  Care,  indeed,  was  almost 
a  stranger  to  these  villages,  and  seldom  tarried  among  them 
for  many  days  as  a  guest.  Amusements,  festivals,  and 
holy  days  were  frequent,  almost  constant.  In  the  light 


I38  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

fantastic  dance,  marked  by  thoughtless  abandon,  the  young 
and  gay  were  active  participants,  while  the  more  aged,  with 
the  "  reverend  father,"  looked  smilingly  on.  Nor  were  these 
enjoyments  confined  to  any  sex  or  condition.  In  the  dance 
all  participated  from  oldest  to  youngest,  the  bond  and  the 
free;  even  the  black  slave  rejoicing  over  his  master's  hap- 
piness. 

"At  the  close  of  each  year,"  in  the  words  of  Davidson  and 
Stuve,  "  it  was  a  custom  among  them  for  the  young  men  to  dis- 
guise themselves  in  old  clothes,  visit  the  several  houses  of  the 
village,  and  engage  in  friendly  dances  with  the  inmates.  This  was 
understood  as  being  an  invitation  for  all  the  family  to  meet  in  a 
general  ball,  in  which  to  watch  the  birth  of  the  New  Year.  Large 
crowds  assembled,  carrying  their  own  refreshments,  and  a  merry 
time  was  ever  the  result.  Another  custom  was  general  on  January 
6.  By  lot,  four  kings  were  chosen,  each  of  whom  selected  for 
himself  a  queen.  These  together  perfected  arrangements  for  an 
entertainment  known  as  a  king-ball.  Toward  the  close  of  the 
first  dance  the  old  queens  selected  new  kings,  whom  they  kissed  as 
the  formality  of  introduction  into  office.  In  a  similar  manner 
these  kings  chose  new  queens,  and  thus  the  gay  time  continued 
during  the  entire  carnival,  up  to  the  week  preceding  Lent." 

These  dwellers  on  the  far  French  frontier  were  largely 
descendants  from  emigrants  originally  coming  from  Picardy 
and  Normandy.  Some  had  drifted  down  the  long  water- 
ways from  far-off  Canada,  pausing  often  perhaps  as  they 
voyaged,  while  others  had  found  passage  up  the  great  river 
from  New  Orleans.  All  were  ardent  Catholics,  looking  to 
their  priests  for  guidance  in  both  spiritual  and  secular  affairs. 
No  regular  court  was  ever  held  in  this  country  during  French 
control,  yet  there  remains  no  record  of  any  serious  infraction 
of  law.  The  commandant  at  Fort  Chartres,  who  exercised 
almost  kingly  powers,  aided  by  the  friendly  advice  of  the 
priests,  either  prevented  controversies  or  quietly  settled  them. 
Hospitality  was  held  a  duty,  always  cheerfully  performed; 


Cfl 

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O 

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THE  FRENCH  SETTLEMENTS  139 

taverns  were  unknown,  for  every  house  supplied  the  deficiency. 
In  politics  they  simply  believed  that  France  ruled  the  world, 
and  were  content;  worldly  honors  were  unknown  and  un- 
cared  for,  while,  with  little  commerce,  the  luxuries  and 
refinements  of  civilization  were  held  valueless.  Thus  day 
after  day  passed  by  in  perfect  contentment  and  peaceful 
indolence.  Of  rank  there  was  little  distinction;  excepting 
the  priests  and  military  officers,  all  were  upon  an  equality, 
all  dressed  alike,  all  met  on  the  same  social  plane. 

The  frank,  social  disposition  of  their  natures  made  the 
preservation  of  peace  with  surrounding  Indian  tribes  an 
easy  matter.  In  the  wigwams  and  camps  of  the  savages 
they  were  at  home;  they  met  and  mingled  with  them,  not 
as  an  alien  race,  but  upon  terms  of  intimate  friendship. 
Marriages  between  white  and  red  were  common,  not  a  few  with 
all  the  sanctity  of  church  ceremony,  and  half-breed  children 
soon  became  numerous  in  the  village  streets.  Their  very 
manners,  habits,  and  love  of  ceremony  commended  these 
careless  French  habitants  to  the  good  will  of  their  savage 
allies.  Magnificent  fighters  on  occasions  of  necessity, 
and  ever  prompt  volunteers  at  the  demand  of  the  King, 
when  the  battle  ceased  they  were  at  once  transformed  into 
polite  courtiers.  As  Governor  Ford  says: 

"  Separated  by  an  immense  wilderness  from  all  civilized  society, 
these  voluntary  exiles  yet  retained  all  the  suavity  and  politeness  of 
their  race.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  the  roughest  hunter  or 
boatman  among  them  could,  at  any  time,  appear  in  a  ball-room,  or 
at  a  council-fire,  with  the  carriage  and  behavior  of  a  well-bred  gentle- 
man. At  the  same  time  the  French  women  —  unless  we  except  the 
off-scouring  of  the  Salpetriere  and  Hospitals  of  Paris  —  were  re- 
markable for  the  sprightliness  of  their  conversation,  and  the  grace 
and  elegance  of  their  manners." 

We  are  told  that  their  horses  and  cattle,  for  want  of 
proper  care  and  food,  degenerated  in  size  but  seemed  to 
acquire  an  additional  vigor  and  toughness,  so  that  among 


i4o  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

the  incoming  Americans  a  French  pony  was  a  proverb  for 
strength  and  endurance.  These  ponies  were  trained  to 
draw,  sometimes  one  alone,  sometimes  two  together,  one 
hitched  before  the  other,  the  rude  ploughs  or  carts  made 
entirely  of  wood.  The  latter  held  about  double  the  contents 
of  a  common  large  wheelbarrow.  When  oxen  were  used 
they  were  yoked  by  the  horns  instead  of  the  neck,  and  in 
this  mode  were  made  to  haul  heavy  loads.  Nothing  like 
reins  were  ever  needed  for  driving;  the  whip  of  the  driver, 
having  a  handle  two  feet  and  a  lash  two  yards  long,  stopped 
or  guided  horse  or  ox  perfectly.  Each  village  had  its  Cath- 
olic church  and  priest.  The  church  was  the  great  place 
of  resort  on  Sundays  and  holidays,  and  became  associated 
with  the  gayety  as  well  as  the  spiritual  life  of  the  people. 
The  priest  was  advisor,  director,  and  friend  to  all  his 
flock. 

The  costume  of  these  Illinois  French,  like  their  manners 
and  customs,  was  simple  and  peculiar.  In  much  it  was  the 
natural  outgrowth  of  their  situation.  Too  poor  and  too 
remote  to  obtain  finer  fabrics,  the  men  during  the  Summer 
wore  pantaloons  made  of  coarse  blue  cloth,  which  in  the 
Winter  season  was  supplanted  by  buckskin.  Over  their 
shirts  and  long  vests,  a  flannel  cloak  was  worn,  to  the  collar 
of  which  was  attached  a  hood,  to  be  drawn  over  the  head  on 
the  coldest  days,  but  when  warmer  it  fell  back  on  the  shoul- 
ders after  the  manner  of  a  cape.  It  was  a  blanket  garment, 
called  a  capote.  None  wore  hat,  cap,  or  coat,  but  the  heads 
of  both  men  and  women  were  covered  with  madras  cotton 
handkerchiefs,  tied  about  in  the  fashion  of  night-caps. 
Voyageurs  and  hunters  wore  cloths  of  a  blue  color,  folded 
in  form  of  a  turban.  The  fancy  head-dresses  which  the 
women  wore  at  balls  and  other  festivities  were  often  taste- 
fully trimmed  with  ribbons,  and  ornamented  with  gay  flow- 
ers. The  dress  of  the  matron,  although  plain  and  of  the 
antique  short-waist,  was  frequently  greatly  varied  according 


THE  FRENCH  SETTLEMENTS  141 

to  the  taste  of  the  wearer.  Both  sexes  wore  moccasins,  which, 
on  public  occasions,  were  variously  decorated  with  shells, 
beads,  and  ribbons,  yielding  them  a  picturesque  appear^- 
ance.  In  Summertime  bare  feet  was  the  rule. 

It  was  in  1720  that  Major  Pierre  Dugue  Boisbriant, 
some  of  whose  descendants  yet  reside  at  Prairie  du  Rocher, 
accompanied  by  one  hundred  men,  came  up  the  river  from 
New  Orleans,  and  at  a  point  sixteen  miles  above  Kaskaskia 
built  Fort  Chartres.  In  1721  Kaskaskia  became  a  parish, 
and  in  1722  the  commandant  issued  the  first  land  warrant 
known  to  the  records  of  what  is  now  Illinois.  In  1721  Re- 
nault brought  two  hundred  miners  and  five  hundred  slaves 
to  work  the  mines  he  expected  to  discover,  and  in  this  year 
also  the  Jesuits  established  a  college  and  monastery  at 
Kaskaskia,  while  Fort  Chartres  became  the  centre  of  life  and 
fashion  in  the  West.  Here  the  officers  and  their  ladies  held 
high  carnival,  and  many  a  gay  company  made  merry  till  the 
dawn.  The  traders  in  the  villages,  and  at  the  fort,  kept  a 
heterogeneous  stock  of  goods  in  one  large  room,  where  the 
assortment  was  fully  displayed  before  the  eyes  of  pur- 
chasers. Although  poor  agriculturists,  judged  by  present 
standards,  they  raised  not  a  little  for  export.  In  1745  the 
Illinois  country  sent  four  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  grain 
to  New  Orleans.  At  this  date  the  French  population  was 
about  nine  hundred  souls  all  told. 

Day  by  day,  year  by  year,  almost  the  same  scenes  of 
indolent  contentment  were  to  be  witnessed  in  all  their  vil- 
lages —  at  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  Prairie  du  Rocher,  Prairie 
du  Pont,  and  St.  Phillipe.  The  peasantry,  in  their  pictur- 
esque costumes,  conspicuous  with  coloring,  mingled  with 
gentlemen  who,  even  in  that  wilderness,  clung  to  the  Parisian 
garb,  with  the  French  soldiers  in  their  blue  uniforms  and 
white  facings,  the  black-robed  Jesuits,  and  the  stolid  Indian 
warriors.  After  1721  black  slaves  were  numerous  through- 
out the  settlements.  These  were  originally  San  Domingo 


i42  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

negroes  brought  by  Renault  to  labor  in  his  mines,  but, 
twenty  years  later,  sold  to  the  colonists.  The  missionary 
Vivier  wrote  in  1750  : 

"  We  have  here  whites,  negroes,  and  Indians,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  cross-breeds.  There  are  five  French  villages,  and  three  of  the 
natives,  within  a  space  of  twenty-one  leagues,  situated  between  the 
Mississippi  and  another  river  called  Kaskaskia.  In  the  five  French 
villages  are,  perhaps,  eleven  hundred  whites,  three  hundred  blacks, 
and  some  sixty  red  slaves,  or  savages.  The  three  Indian  towns  do 
not  contain  more  than  eight  hundred  souls  all  told." 

Other  little  settlements  were  throughout  the  country, 
the  merest  pin-pricks  on  the  great  map  of  the  wilderness. 
At  Le  Pe,  now  Peoria,  at  Chicago,  possibly  at  Rock  Island 
and  Quincy,  there  were  small  stockaded  forts  with  a  few 
French  settlers,  largely  half-breeds  having  native  women 
for  wives,  gathered  about  them.  A  somewhat  larger  settle- 
ment, although  constantly  changing  its  inhabitants,  was 
that  of  the  lead  miners  in  Jo  Daviess  County.  A  trading- 
post  was  established  on  the  Missouri  side  of  the  river  at  New 
Madrid  as  early  as  1740.  The  region  was  notable  for  its 
bears,  and  the  principal  trade  of  the  inhabitants  was  the 
sale  of  bear's  grease.  Hence  the  voyageurs  named  it  "  L'Anse 
de  la  Graisse  "  —  Grease  Bay.  St.  Genevieve  in  Missouri 
dates  from  about  1755.  Following  even  more  closely  in 
point  of  time  the  Illinois  settlements,  came  the  occupation 
of  the  Wabash  country.  A  stockade  was  built  on  the  upper 
Wabash  previous  to  1712,  but  that  route  eastward  by  water 
was  not  greatly  used  until  after  1716.  This  post  was  called 
Ouatanon,  and  occupied  the  present  site  of  the  city  of  La- 
fayette, Indiana,  at  the  mouth  of  Little  River.  The  forti- 
fied trading-post  of  Vincennes  was  established  in  1722,  but 
did  not  become  a  French  settlement  until  about  twelve  years 
later.  Besides  the  inevitable  water  communication  existing 
between  all  these  French  outposts,  land  trails  connected 
most  of  them,  and  they  were  always  in  comparatively  close 


THE  FRENCH  SETTLEMENTS  143 

touch  from  the  constant  passing  back  and  forth  of  voyageurs 
and  coureurs  de  bois.  In  time  of  need  these  isolated  com- 
munities furnished  many  volunteer  soldiers  to  aid  the  French 
struggle  to  retain  the  West,  the  forces  moving  eastward 
along  water-courses  or  over  the  land  trails,  and  being  repre- 
sented in  every  battle  waged  upon  that  long  frontier. 

Thus  in  the  very  heart  of  the  continent,  more  than  a 
thousand  miles  from  either  ocean,  flourished  for  nearly  a 
hundred  years  these  interesting  communities  of  French  pio- 
neers. Yet  in  all  that  time  they  accomplished  little  of  perma- 
nent value,  and  to-day  the  fact  of  their  former  occupancy  of 
this  land  is  scarcely  more  than  a  dream.  Their  forts  have 
crumbled  into  dust,  their  towns  have  disappeared  beneath 
the  encroaching  waters  of  the  great  river  which  was  once 
their  highway,  or,  deserted  by  their  inhabitants,  have  decayed 
and  disappeared.  Only  a  few  remnants  have  escaped  the 
inflowing  tide  of  American  population,  and  they  also  are 
fast  losing  the  peculiarities  of  their  fathers. 


CHAPTER  X 

ON  THE  SITE  OF  MARAMECH :   A  GREAT  INDIAN 

TRAGEDY 

WITHIN  the  present  limits  of  Kendall  County,  two 
small  streams  unite  in  one,  and,  in  less  than  a  mile, 
flow  into  the  Fox  River.  They  are  known  as  Little  and  Big 
Rock  Creeks.  Between  these  was  located  that  famous 
ancient  Indian  village  of  Maramech,  described  by  La 
Salle,  and  given  prominent  place  upon  Franquelin's  map 
as  early  as  1684.  Near  here,  many  a  year  later,  according 
to  recently  discovered  French  reports,  occurred  one  of  the 
most  horrible  tragedies  of  the  Illinois  country.  The  victims 
were  Fox  Indians,  who,  from  the  earliest  settlement  of  this 
country,  were  almost  the  only  western  tribe  with  whom  the 
invading  French  were  unable  to  enter  upon  permanent 
terms  of  friendship.  Mr.  John  F.  Steward,  in  the  Illinois 
Historical  Transactions  and  in  a  book  on  the  subject,  has 
given  the  best  and  fullest  account  we  have  of  the  event. 

From  the  very  earliest  days  of  exploration  and  fur-trading 
the  warriors  of  this  important  nation,  it  seems,  exercised  suf- 
ficient control  over  the  more  northern  portages  leading 
toward  Canada  to  enable  them  to  collect  toll  of  the  ad- 
venturous voyageurs  eager  to  get  their  peltries  to  the  far- 
away Montreal  market.  This  led  to  constant  bickering 
and  trouble,  and  finally  even  to  bloodshed  and  a  beginning 
of  frontier  war.  As  early  as  1712,  Mr.  Steward's  researches 
tell  us,  Du  Buisson,  then  commandant  at  Detroit,  saw  fit  to 
organize  numerous  rival  Indian  tribes  into  a  sort  of  loose  con- 
federacy for  the  sole  purpose  of  attacking  these  Foxes,  and  they 

were  thus  driven  away  from  the  streams  they  so  long  had 

144 


ON  THE  SITE  OF  MARAMECH  145 

dominated,  after  a  brief  but  fierce  battle.  In  1716  De 
Lignerie,  commander  at  Mackinac,  incensed  by  some  outrage 
now  unknown,  once  again  moved  against  these  same  people, 
who  were  at  that  time  located  along  the  Wisconsin  River, 
and,  at  Butte  des  Morts,  wrought  wholesale  slaughter. 
Again  in  1728  and  in  1730  they  were  attacked,  by  new  com- 
binations of  vengeful  enemies  incited  and  led  by  Frenchmen, 
and  finally  were  forced  to  fly  for  safety,  their  fields  of  corn 
destroyed,  and  their  villages  burned  to  the  ground. 

It  is  this  last  expedition,  the  most  important  and  bloody 
of  all,  with  which  this  chapter  especially  deals,  furnishing 
as  it  does  a  vivid  and  weird  picture  of  the  early  dealings 
between  the  white  and  red  occupants  of  the  land.  Harassed 
continually  from  every  side  by  implacable  enemies,  those 
of  their  own  race  being  constantly  egged  on  to  greater 
atrocities  by  the  influence  of  French  greed,  the  dispirited 
fragment  of  what  had  once  been  the  strong  Fox  nation 
finally  started  eastward  hoping,  it  is  said,  to  find  an  asylum 
of  safety  among  the  powerful  Iroquois.  On  this  unfortunate 
retreat,  for  such  it  must  be  considered,  the  hastily  fleeing 
tribe,  according  to  Steward's  researches,  probably  followed 
the  old  Kishwaukee  trail  leading  southeastwardly,  one 
of  the  many  that  centred  at  what  is  now  believed  to  have  been 
the  former  vast  Indian  town  of  Maramech.  This  was  a  very 
old  track  crossing  the  prairie,  worn  so  deeply  by  moccasined 
Indian  feet  in  the  long  ago  as  to  remain  plainly  apparent 
until  the  land  was  finally  broken  up  by  the  plough.  In  this 
migration  of  the  Foxes,  in  their  attempt  to  reach  safety  in 
the  distant  lodges  of  the  Iroquois,  probably  between  two 
and  three  hundred  warriors,  with  an  unusual  proportion  of 
women  and  children,  plodded  dejectedly  along  this  ancient, 
narrow  highway. 

On  the  journey  they  continually  suffered  attack  from 
small  parties  of  Mascoutins  and  Kickapoos,  yet  held  grimly 
forward,  beating  back  their  wary  assailants  until  they  finally 


146  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

attained  to  the  banks  of  the  Fox,  where  they  were  reluctantly 
compelled  to  halt  by  the  increasing  number  opposing  pas- 
sage across  the  stream,  and  entrench  themselves  in  crude 
Indian  fashion.  This  consisted  merely  of  building  a  large 
number  of  temporary  shelters  by  digging  shallow  holes  along 
the  banks  of  the  stream.  Finding  that  they  were  unable 
to  accomplish  unaided  the  damage  desired  against  these 
fleeing  exiles,  the  wily  Indian  allies  despatched  hasty  reports 
of  the  situation  to  the  nearest  French  garrisons,  then  sta- 
tioned at  Chartres,  the  fort  on  the  St.  Joseph,  and  Green 
Bay.  St.  Ange,  at  Chartres,  was  the  more  prompt  to  re- 
spond, leaving  his  post  for  the  scene  of  action  early  in  July, 
1730.  He  moved  slowly  up  the  Illinois  River,  in  boats,  and 
pushed  forth  into  the  more  northern  wilderness,  having  with 
him  about  five  hundred  men  all  told,  including  French  and 
Indians  from  the  Kaskaskia  settlements. 

It  was  on  the  twelfth  of  August  that  St.  Ange's  scouts 
first  came  into  actual  touch  with  the  Foxes,  who  were  now 
strongly  fortified  in  their  primitive  Indian  fashion  close  to 
the  old  site  of  Maramech.  On  the  seventeenth,  forty  Fox 
hunters  were  encountered  in  the  woods,  and  after  a  sharp 
fight  hastily  driven  back  within  their  little  fortification, 
which  consisted  of  no  more  than  a  small  grove  of  timber, 
enclosed  with  rude  palisades,  and  situated  upon  a  rather 
steep  slope. 

Warned  by  these  fleeing  scouts  of  the  fast  approach  of 
this  new  and  dangerous  hostile  force,  the  Foxes,  now  com- 
pletely surrounded  by  their  vengeful  enemies  and  having 
no  opportunity  for  further  retreat,  made  every  preparation 
possible  for  a  stubborn  defence.  The  warriors  busied 
themselves  hunting  in  an  effort  to  secure  sufficient  provi- 
sions to  withstand  a  siege,  while  the  women  and  old  men 
worked  at  strengthening  the  fort  in  every  way  possible  with 
their  primitive  tools.  Within  the  stockade  were  crowded 
a  thousand  half-starved  women  and  children.  St.  Ange, 


THE  SITE  OF  MARAMECH  147 

as  Mr.  Steward's  careful  study  would  seem  to  show,  immedi- 
ately approached  from  the  southward,  keeping  well  under 
cover  of  the  heavy  woods  along  the  river  bank;  De  Villiers, 
accompanied  by  French  and  Indians  from  Fort  St.  Joseph, 
was  bearing  down  upon  them  from  the  east;  while  DeNoyelles 
with  still  others  was  hurrying  over  the  great  Sauk  trail 
from  Detroit,  eager  to  be  in  at  the  death.  At  last  St.  Ange 
left  his  partial  concealment,  and,  crossing  the  river  with  his 
men,  penned  the  desperate  Foxes  more  closely  within  their 
little  stockade  of  logs,  and  began  the  siege,  opening  fire  on 
every  savage  whose  head  appeared  above  the  defences. 

A  few  days  later,  but  before  any  serious  fighting  had  yet 
occurred,  De  Villiers  succeeded  in  joining  him,  bringing 
fifty  Frenchmen  and  five  hundred  Indians  to  augment  the 
force  of  besiegers.  Assaults  were  immediately  attempted, 
but  these  the  desperate  Fox  warriors  hurled  fiercely  back 
with  heavy  loss,  and  the  siege  continued,  the  besiegers  daily 
advancing  closer  against  the  walls  of  the  fort  by  use  of  the 
spade.  In  final  desperation  the  now  starving  Foxes  sent 
forth  a  peace  party,  begging  for  some  satisfactory  terms  of 
surrender,  and  De  Villiers,  who  was  in  command  of  the 
attack,  was  apparently  inclined  to  be  merciful,  but  his  pur- 
pose was  overborne  by  the  influence  of  the  allied  savages.  It 
was  at  about  this  time  that  De  Noyelles  arrived  on  the  scene, 
having  with  him  ten  Frenchmen  and  two  hundred  Indians. 
He  brought  positive  orders  that  no  quarter  should  be  granted 
the  defenders.  Under  his  instructions,  the  lines  were  drawn 
yet  closer,  and  the  exchange  of  fire  became  constant. 
Hunger  soon  reigned  on  both  sides,  even  the  allies  them- 
selves, although  perfectly  free  to  hunt,  being  reduced  to 
eating  their  shields  of  rawhide.  How  those  cooped  up 
helplessly  within  the  narrow  confines  of  the  little  fort  suffered 
no  pen  can  tell;  the  story  of  their  desperation  died  with  them. 

Day  by  day  they  were  pressed  harder,  the  walls  being 
several  times  assaulted;  many  of  the  defenders  perished, 


i48  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

some  from  starvation,  others  in  open  battle.  St.  Ange 
built  a  small  fort,  almost  within  pistol  shot,  thinking  thus 
to  effectually  shut  off  the  water  supply  of  the  agonized 
garrison,  but  the  desperate  Foxes  managed  to  tunnel  through 
the  hard,  rocky  earth,  and  thus  secured  sufficient  to  keep 
them  alive.  On  the  eighth  of  September  a  violent  storm 
arose,  which  was  followed  by  a  dark,  cold  night.  The  sen- 
tinels of  the  allied  French  and  Indians,  already  wearied  by 
the  long  siege,  became  careless;  vigilance  relaxed  along  the 
besieging  lines,  and  in  the  intense  blackness  of  the  night 
the  watchful  Foxes  discovered  an  unguarded  lane,  and 
burst  through  their  enemies  unnoticed.  The  chance  crying 
of  a  child  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  sound  which  alarmed 
the  unsuspecting  sentries  of  the  sleeping  allies,  but  amid 
the  intense  gloom  and  uncertainty  of  the  night,  they  were 
completely  bafHed  as  to  the  direction  of  the  flight. 

With  earliest  coming  of  daylight  the  fierce  pursuers, 
burning  now  for  vengeance,  were  upon  the  trail  of  the  hapless 
fugitives.  These  latter  made  every  effort  to  defend  them- 
selves, but  the  mere  weight  of  numbers  pressing  hard  and 
relentlessly  upon  their  rear  was  sufficient  to  ensure  defeat. 
Placing  their  women,  children,  and  old  men  in  the  van  of 
retreat,  the  despairing  warriors  remained  nobly  behind  to 
battle.  But  the  attack  was  exceedingly  fierce,  and  the  over- 
whelming allies  drove  through  them,  hurling  them  helplessly 
aside  in  the  mad  shock  of  their  assault.  The  dead  and  the 
prisoners,  many  of  whom  were  remorselessly  tortured  and 
few  spared,  numbered  about  three  hundred  warriors,  and 
one  thousand  women  and  children. 

At  the  centre  of  what  was  probably  the  original  enclosure 
Mr.  Steward  has  erected  a  monument,  made  of  a  great 
bowlder,  with  a  suitable  inscription  carved  thereon,  in 
commemoration  of  this  great  border  tragedy  of  the  old 
French  regime.  Nothing  could  be  more  impressive,  for 
not  only  does  this  granite  stand  there  in  memory  of  a  brave 


ON  THE  SITE  OF  MARAMECH  149 

people  and  a  heroic  deed,  but  back  even  of  this  occurrence 
within  the  recorded  story  of  white  men,  loom  the  fabled 
legends  of  generations  of  Indian  life  in  this  mysterious  old 
town  of  Maramech,  famous  in  song  and  story,  whose  true 
history  can  never  be  written  by  mortal  pen,  yet  will  remain 
for  ever  a  fascinating  romance  of  the  Illinois  country. 


CHAPTER    XI 

THE   SPANISH    INVASION  — ILLINOIS    IN   THE 
REVOLUTION 

DURING  the  first  years  of  American  control  of  the 
Illinois  country  the  official  neighbor  upon  the  west, 
separated  only  by  the  rolling  waters  of  the  Mississippi, 
was  Spain.  And  more  than  once  in  those  stirring  border 
days  of  bluster  and  bold  fighting,  were  peaceful  relations 
severely  strained,  and  the  two  nationalities  brought  to 
the  very  verge  of  serious  acts  of  hostility. 

The  Spanish  capital  of  what  somewhat  later  became 
officially  known  as  Upper  Louisiana  was  the  little  village  of 
St.  Louis,  which  the  French  had  founded  in  176435  a  trading- 
post.  Around  its  scattered  houses,  because  of  a  predatory 
attack  made  by  English  and  Indians  in  1780,  the  Spaniards 
had  erected  a  log  stockade,  with  a  small  stone  fort  or  two 
standing  close  by.  Its  commander  this  year  of  which  we  now 
treat,  1781,  was  Don  Francesco  Cruvat,  Brevet  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  of  Infantry.  In  January  of  that  same  eventful 
year,  there  marched  forth  from  his  little  garrison  at  St.  Louis 
those  Spanish  soldiers  who  for  the  first  and  only  time  bore 
the  flag  of  that  nation  triumphantly  across  Illinois  ter- 
ritory. It  is  an  interesting  and  picturesque  story,  but  one 
apparently  not  deemed  of  sufficient  historical  importance 
to  be  given  the  space  it  perhaps  truly  deserves.  Certainly 
until  treated  by  Mr.  E.  G.  Mason,  in  his  interesting  "  Illinois 
Sketches,"  it  has  remained  almost  totally  ignored. 

In  this  party  of  adventurers  —  for  they  were  little  more  — 
there  were  sixty-five  militia-men.  Of  these,  thirty  are  re- 
ported to  have  been  Spanish,  the  remainder  probably  being 

150 


THE  SPANISH  INVASION  151 

of  French  blood.  Sixty  Indians,  recruited  from  various 
Western  tribes,  accompanied  them  as  allies.  Don  Eugenio 
Pourre  was  the  Commander  of  this  company,  and  probably 
the  only  man  in  the  entire  party  who  comprehended  fully 
the  purposes  of  the  expedition.  He  was  a  Captain  in  the 
Spanish  line.  Next  to  him  in  rank  stood  Don  Carlos  Tayon, 
a  Lieutenant  in  the  royal  service,  while  the  others  of  impor- 
tance and  some  note  were  Don  Luis  Chevalier,  "  a  man 
well  versed  in  the  language  of  the  Indians,"  expected  to  act 
as  interpreter,  and  two  grave  warrior  chieftains,  whom  the 
Spaniards  called  Eleturno  and  Naquigen. 

And  what  was  the  cause  for  all  this  stern  and  warlike 
array  ?  Merely  this  —  it  was  apparently  a  faint  echo  from 
far  across  the  sea,  of  a  great  European  quarrel,  the  war 
then  being  desperately  waged  by  Spain  against  England. 
In  this  cause  the  isolated  garrison  at  St.  Louis,  anxious 
enough  for  some  excitement,  had  boldly  determined  to  bear 
their  part,  and  now  planned  a  swift  stroke  against  the  nearest 
fort  over  which  floated  defiantly  the  hated  English  banner. 
This  chanced  to  be  the  old  fort  of  St.  Joseph,  situated  on 
the  river  of  that  name,  in  what  is  now  Southern  Michigan. 
The  exact  spot  where  this  old  stockade  once  stood  is  scarcely 
agreed  upon  by  any  two  historians,  the  majority  of  them 
locating  it  either  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph  River, 
where  La  Salle's  Fort  Miami  probably  stood,  or  else  up 
that  placid  stream  as  far  as  the  ancient  portage  to  the  Kan- 
kakee,  near  South  Bend,  Indiana.  Mason  decides,  after 
most  careful  study  of  the  various  maps  of  that  early  day, 
that  this  fortification  more  likely  occupied  the  south  bank 
of  the  St.  Joseph  River,  and  was  situated  about  one  mile 
west  of  the  present  town  of  Niles,  Michigan.  Whatever  may 
have  been  its  exact  site,  it  was  certainly  no  ordinary  journey 
which  now  lay  before  these  adventurous  Spaniards.  As 
Mr.  Mason  writes,  "  Many  marches  far  more  famous  have 
been  of  less  extent  and  with  fewer  privations."  It  was  mid- 


152  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

winter  when  they  started,  the  ground  already  covered  deeply 
with  newly  fallen  snow,  the  forest  trees  bare  of  foliage,  the 
rivers  locked  in  ice,  and  the  desolate  prairies  deserted  of 
game.  Four  hundred  miles  and  more  of  Indian-haunted 
plain  and  forest  stretched  between  them  and  their  destina- 
tion, while  at  the  end  of  that  difficult  journey  an  enemy 
awaited  their  stealthy  approach  whose  strength  was  but 
poorly  known.  And  they  started  forth  unusually  heavily 
laden  for  such  a  march,  not  only  bearing  necessary  provis- 
ions for  the  long  journey,  and  sufficient  stores  of  ammunition 
for  the  anticipated  battle,  but  also  stocks  of  merchandise, 
with  which  it  was  hoped  to  buy  safe  passage  through  the 
many  savage  tribes  then  in  close  alliance  with  England, 
across  whose  country  they  must  necessarily  pass  on  their 
way. 

This  march,  while  possibly  in  no  way  intended  at  the 
time  of  its  conception  to  involve  the  struggling  eastern 
American  colonies,  led  directly  across  Illinois  territory, 
which  had  been  already  won  to  the  American  cause  by 
Clark's  bordermen,  and  was  hence  an  armed  invasion, 
which  might  naturally  lead  to  unpleasant  consequences. 
Moreover,  the  French  settlement  at  Le  Pe  had  to  be  avoided, 
lest  an  attempt  be  made  here  to  oppose  their  progress.  As 
Mason  says: 

"  Nor  could  these  bold  fellows  take  the  most  direct  route  to  the 
point  of  attack,  as  preceding  expeditions  had  done,  for  no  man 
might  face  the  Grand  Prairie  in  midwinter  and  expect  to  survive. 
For  shelter,  and  for  water  and  fuel  as  well,  they  were  compelled  to 
follow  the  courses  of  the  streams  and  the  woods  which  bordered 
them,  and  so  they  journeyed  patiently  northeastward,  pushing  for- 
ward in  the  teeth  of  the  wintry  blasts  which  grew  ever  colder  and 
more  dreary.  By  day  they  plodded  onward,  laden  with  their  heavy 
burdens,  having  before  them  only  the  ice-covered  streams  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  straggling  forests,  with  glimpses  of  the  vast 
white  plains  beyond,  on  the  other." 


THE  SPANISH  INVASION  153 

The  light-hearted  Frenchmen  in  that  struggling  column 
needed  all  their  natural  cheeriness  to  keep  up  heart  under 
such  conditions,  and  it  was  a  time  when  the  Spaniards 
might  recall  encouragingly  the  deeds  of  those  daring  cavaliers 
of  their  race  in  many  a  desperate  venture  of  the  wilderness. 
The  weather  proved  more  severe  than  usual  even  in  that 
Winter-swept  country,  and  their  supplies  of  food  soon  became 
distressingly  scant.  Every  mile  of  advance  only  added  to 
their  sufferings,  and  they  were  compelled  by  fast-increasing 
weakness  to  throw  aside  much  of  their  loads,  while  those 
in  command  continually  urged  the  wearied  men  to  renewed 
exertion. 

The  records  of  this  long-neglected  march  across  the 
Illinois  wilderness  are  exceedingly  scanty,  so  much  so  that 
it  is  impossible  to  trace  with  any  certainty  the  route  followed. 
It  is  supposed,  from  the  recent  discovery  there  of  ancient 
cannon  balls  of  European  manufacture,  that  the  present 
site  of  Danville  may  have  been  crossed,  and  it  is  suspected 
that  some  trouble  was  experienced  there  in  getting  past  an 
important  Indian  village;  yet  all  we  truly  know  is  that 
this  band  of  determined  invaders  actually  moved  slowly 
and  painfully  across  the  whole  of  what  is  now  Illinois,  buf- 
feted by  wintry  storms,  their  general  direction  being  from 
southwest  to  northeast,  and,  leaving  the  present  limits 
certainly  not  far  from  Danville,  turned  more  northerly,  and 
struck  through  swamp  lands  straight  toward  the  old  Kan- 
kakee  portage,  about  where  South  Bend  now  stands.  All 
along  the  latter  portion  of  this  wearisome  route  they  bought 
their  safe  passage  through  the  English  Indian  allies  by  the 
free  use  of  presents  from  their  fast-depleting  stocks,  but 
after  finally  reaching  the  banks  of  the  St.  Joseph  they  threw 
all  prudence  to  the  winds,  and  rushed  eagerly  forward  to 
win  their  battle  by  surprising  the  English  garrison. 

Far  more  easily  than  they  had  dreamed  as  being  possible 
was  this  end  accomplished.  Totally  unwarned  and  unpre- 


i54  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

pared,  the  few  English  traders  and  soldiers  gathered  within 
the  stockade  were  quickly  made  prisoners  of  war,  and  Fort 
St.  Joseph  was  held  as  belonging  to  the  far-distant  King  of 
Spain.  In  Mason's  words,  "  He  was  the  sixth  sovereign 
who  had  borne  sway  there,  if  we  include  in  the  list  La  Salle 
and  Pontiac,  who  in  truth  were  kinglier  men  than  any  of 
the  others."  And  so,  in  his  turn,  Don  Eugenio  Pourre, 
Captain  of  the  line,  took  possession  in  the  name  of  his  Most 
Catholic  Majesty.  He  lowered  the  English  flag,  and  floated 
the  glaring  Spanish  colors  proudly  overhead  during  all  the 
brief  period  of  his  stay.  His  men  plundered  the  fort  with 
the  thoroughness  born  of  long  experience,  giving  the  greater 
portion  of  the  spoils  thus  obtained  to  their  own  selves,  and 
what  they  left  to  those  Indians  who  had  permitted  them  to 
pass  so  easily.  But  they  remained  on  the  spot  merely  the 
few  days  sufficient  to  recruit  their  strength,  knowing  full 
well  so  exposed  a  post  could  never  be  permanently  defended 
against  English  reinforcements.  They  had  struck  their 
blow;  now  discretion  was  realized  to  be  the  better  part  of 
valor.  The  march  homeward  was  accomplished  without 
special  incident.  Early  in  March,  1781,  Don  Eugenio, 
bearing  in  his  hands  the  captured  English  ensign,  made 
formal  report  in  St.  Louis  to  Don  Francesco  Cruvat  regard- 
ing the  success  of  his  adventure.  A  full  year  later  this 
report  was  received  in  distant  Spain. 

There  was  doubtless  more  in  this  expedition  than  appears 
upon  the  surface,  and  from  it  the  wily  Spanish  diplomats 
may  have  hoped  to  attain  an  end  to  which  this  marauding 
trip  was  merely  an  incident.  Spain  had  an  ambition  at 
that  time,  as  well  as  later,  to  grasp  as  her  own  the  entire 
Mississippi  valley,  and  this  swift  raid  of  Pourre's  through 
Illinois'  midwinter  may  have  been  planned  but  as  a  stepping- 
stone  toward  the  realization  of  that  fond  dream  of  final  con- 
quest. The  attempt  failed,  not  through  any  unwillingness 
of  European  allies  to  assist,  but  because  of  the  vigorous 


THE  SPANISH  INVASION  155 

opposition  and  protest  made  by  Jay,  Franklin,  and  Adams  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States.  An  able  commentator  says: 
"  Counsellors  less  wise,  less  firm  than  they,  might  have 
yielded  to  these  veiled  Spanish  claims,  especially  as  they 
were  warmly  supported  by  France,  and  had  they  done  so  all 
this  northwestern  territory  would  have  become  Spanish 
soil,  with  the  Ohio  as  the  extreme  western  boundary  of  the 
Union.'*  So,  not  only  as  a  picturesque  incident  of  early 
border  life,  but  as  an  illustration  of  crafty  diplomacy,  born 
in  European  cabals,  is  it  worth  while  to  remember  the  pass- 
ing and  repassing  across  the  Illinois  prairies  of  this  invading 
flag  of  Spain.  Unwitting  and  careless,  those  red  and  white 
border  soldiers  did  their  little  part,  mere  pawns  in  the  great 
game  of  empire  which  was  being  played  out  in  the  cabinets 
of  far-off  Madrid  and  Paris. 

It  is  indeed  odd  what  an  important  part  this  little  insig- 
nificant stockade  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Joseph  River 
played  during  all  the  revolutionary  struggle  in  the  West, 
and  how  there  seemed  to  centre  in  that  particular  spot,  now 
so  hard  to  locate,  every  effort  made  by  Illinois  patriots  to 
strike  a  blow  in  aid  of  the  cause  of  Independence.  As  early 
as  October,  1777,  it  was  surprised  and  captured  by  Illinois- 
ans.  Tom  Brady,  a  genial  Kaskaskia  Irishman,  better 
known  as  "  Monsieur  Tom,"  associated  with  a  Canadian 
half-breed  named  Hamelin  then  residing  at  Cahokia,  led 
a  little  party  of  sixteen  daring  volunteers  to  the  attack. 
They  crept  in  under  cover  of  night,  capturing  and  paroling 
the  garrison  of  twenty-one  regulars;  seized  a  considerable 
amount  of  merchandise,  burned  what  they  could  not  conven- 
iently carry  away  with  them,  and,  upon  leaving,  wantonly 
set  fire  to  the  buildings  and  stockade.  Rendered  careless 
from  the  easy  success  of  their  lawless  venture,  they  were 
promptly  overtaken  on  the  Calumet  River,  not  far  from 
the  present  South  Chicago,  by  those  same  regulars  whom  they 
had  just  paroled,  together  with  a  number  of  hastily  recruited 


I56  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Indians.  A  hot  fight  followed,  but  at  the  end  of  it,  several 
being  killed,  two  after  having  surrendered,  Brady  and  twelve 
of  his  men  were  held  prisoners.  He  was  sent  overland  to 
Canada,  under  guard,  escaped,  when  near  Montreal,  and, 
by  means  of  a  long  toilsome  journey,  finally  found  his  way 
back  to  Kaskaskia,  married  the  famous  widow  Le  Comte, 
and  was  later  elected  sheriff  of  St.  Clair  County.  Mason 
pertinently  remarks  in  this  connection :  "  His  career  illus- 
trates the  indomitable  character  of  the  Illinois  office-seeker. 
Warfare,  imprisonment,  exile,  hardships,  all  were  unavail- 
ing to  prevent  Tom  Brady  from  returning  to  his  bailiwick 
and  securing  an  office." 

But  Fort  St.  Joseph  was  not  destined  to  remain  long  in 
peace.  The  failure  of  Brady's  expedition,  together  with 
the  capture  and  death  of  many  of  his  men,  served  to  awaken 
a  spirit  of  revenge  along  the  entire  Illinois  frontier.  Dur- 
ing the  Summer  of  1778  Paulette  Meillet,  then  residing  near 
the  site  of  Peoria,  of  which  he  was  credited  as  being 
the  founder,  and  a  man  of  note  among  fur  traders,  led  a 
force  consisting  of  three  hundred  French,  Indians,  and 
half-breeds  from  that  place  along  the  water-courses  of  the 
Illinois  and  Kankakee  to  St.  Joseph.  Reports  of  his 
approach  flew  before  him,  so  that  surprise  of  the  garrison 
proved  impossible,  but  his  force  was  sufficiently  large  to 
venture  upon  an  open  assault,  and  the  impetuous  mob 
of  red  and  white  invaders  surged  fiercely  over  the  palis- 
ades, and  once  again  the  English  flag  came  down  at  a 
run.  The  garrison  was  paroled,  the  fort  once  more  looted 
and  set  on  fire,  after  which  the  victorious  Illinoisans,  bear- 
ing with  them  it  is  said  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  stores, 
safely  retraced  their  steps  to  the  security  of  the  Peoria  Lake. 

Another  revolutionary  expedition  was  yet  later  organized 
in  the  Illinois  country,  but  its  results  were  only  death  and 
defeat.  It  is  a  strange  story,  and  there  is  wrapped  up  in  it 
a  character  that  remains  one  of  the  mysteries  of  history. 


THE  SPANISH  INVASION  157 

Early  in  the  revolutionary  struggle,  a  young  French  officer 
calling  himself  La  Balme  came  to  this  country,  presumably 
for  the  purpose  of  joining  the  Colonial  army.  That  he  was 
a  man  of  refinement  and  education,  as  well  as  some  social  in- 
fluence, is  evidenced  by  his  journal,  which  has  been  preserved. 
Yet  apparently  he  never  united  with  the  Continental  troops, 
nor  is  there  any  record  preserved  showing  that  he  ever  held 
commission  or  authority  from  our  government,  or  that  of 
Virginia.  Nevertheless,  he  suddenly  appeared  in  the  Illinois 
country,  with  plenty  of  arms  and  money,  and  began  recruit- 
ing a  force  of  volunteers  ostensibly  to  attack  the  strongly 
garrisoned  British  post  at  Detroit.  This  occurred  quite 
soon  after  Clark's  conquest  of  the  Northwest,  and  the 
French  people  of  the  Illinois  were  naturally  in  a  frame  of 
mind  to  be  easily  led  into  such  an  enterprise.  La  Balme 
certainly  became  very  popular.  One  of  Clark's  officers 
wrote,  "  The  people  run  after  him  as  if  he  was  the  very 
Masiah  himself";  but  he  was  unable  to  discover  by  what 
government  authority  the  man  was  acting. 

In  spite  of  his  lack  of  credentials,  strong  companies  of 
young  men  were  easily  enrolled  at  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia, 
and  at  the  head  of  these  La  Balme  marched  triumphantly 
across  the  State  to  Vincennes,  where  he  gathered  nearly 
as  many  more  to  his  desperate  enterprise.  The  French 
girls  became  enthusiastic,  and  sang  songs  of  encouragement 
for  the  volunteers,  urging  all  the  young  men  of  their  acquaint- 
ance to  enlist,  and  treating  lightly  those  laggards  who  hesi- 
tated. He  left  Vincennes  with  a  well-equipped  force  behind 
him,  ascended  the  Wabash,  and,  making  a  sudden  attack 
on  an  English  trading-post  called  Kekionga,  near  the  pres- 
ent city  of  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  captured  it  with  all  its 
stores.  Flushed  with  this  easy  success,  and  as  yet  indepen- 
dent of  all  military  discipline,  that  night  La  Balme's  force 
kept  very  poor  guard  over  their  encampment  on  the  banks 
of  the  little  river  Aboite.  The  result  of  this  carelessness 


i58  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

was  their  complete  undoing.  The  enraged  traders  hastily 
collected  the  Indians  in  the  neighborhood,  and  before 
morning  dawned  burst  impetuously  from  out  the  forest 
upon  the  unsuspecting  Illinoisans,  killed  La  Balme,  routed 
his  forces,  and  recaptured  their  goods.  To  this  day  no  one 
knows  by  what  authority  this  expedition  was  organized;  but 
had  its  leader  succeeded  in  capturing  Detroit  according  to 
his  plans,  the  name  of  La  Balme  might  have  stood  in  Illinois 
history  beside  that  of  George  Rogers  Clark.  As  it  is,  he 
remains  merely  a  memory,  and  nothing  more. 

There  exist  a  few  other  traditional  accounts  of  indepen- 
dent forays  and  skirmishes  occurring  along  the  Illinois  fron- 
tier, associated  with  the  revolutionary  struggle,  helping  to 
show  that  the  Illinoisans  of  that  early  age,  although  mostly 
of  French  blood,  were  eager  enough  to  strike  a  blow  for  the 
cause  of  freedom.  Indeed  this  spirit  was  evidenced  at  even 
a  much  earlier  period.  When  first  the  English  banner  was 
unfurled  above  old  Fort  Chartres,  those  that  remained  of 
the  ancient  French  population  immediately  demanded  their 
rights  as  citizens  in  no  uncertain  terms.  Practically  they 
said  to  the  English  authorities  sent  to  rule  over  them,  "  We 
have  become  English  subjects  by  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of 
Paris,  and  we  want  the  rights  of  Englishmen."  This  spirit 
of  manly  independence  grew,  and  the  French  bordermen  of 
Illinois  were  not  one  whit  behind  their  Eastern  brethren  in 
boldly  asserting  their  demands.  It  is  an  interesting  chapter, 
and  one  long  neglected,  until  written  of  by  Mr.  Mason.  In 
1771  the  scattered  people  of  Illinois  met  in  mass  meeting 
at  Kaskaskia,  although  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  by  whom 
the  call  was  issued,  and  forwarded  a  peremptory  demand 
to  the  English  government,  protesting  against  the  tyranny 
of  those  placed  in  authority  over  them,  asking  for  institu- 
tions like  those  in  the  Connecticut  colony,  and  the  right 
to  appoint  their  own  governor  and  all  civil  magistrates. 
We  must  remember  in  this  connection  that,  at  this  date, 


THE  SPANISH  INVASION  159 

Connecticut  alone  of  all  the  Eastern  colonies,  preserved  her 
ancient  charter,  and  remained  comparatively  free  of  Eng- 
lish rule. 

This  demand  of  the  Illinoisans  was  sent  forward  through 
the  regular  military  channels  to  General  Gage,  who  was  then 
in  command  at  Boston.  In  transmitting  this  precious  doc- 
ument to  the  home  authorities  Gage  endorsed  it,  "  A  regular 
constitutional  government  for  the  people  of  Illinois  cannot 
be  suggested.  They  don't  deserve  so  much  attention."  "  I 
agree  with  you,"  added  Lord  Hillsborough,  then  at  the 
head  of  the  British  colonial  office,  "  a  regular  government 
for  that  district  would  be  highly  improper."  His  successor, 
Lord  Dartmouth,  took  a  similar  view,  and  immediately 
drew  up  what  he  termed  "  A  Sketch  of  Government  for 
Illinois,"  and  returned  it  with  his  compliments,  into  the 
western  wilderness,  trusting  thus  to  settle  the  whole  affair. 
It  was  extremely  simple  and  utterly  unsatisfactory.  It  pro- 
vided in  a  few  terse  paragraphs,  arrogantly  British  in  every 
sentence,  that  all  powers  should  be  vested  in  officers  appointed 
by  the  Crown,  and  none  left  to  the  selection  of  the  people. 
Immediately  a  storm  of  wrath  swept  over  distant  Illinois. 
With  apparently  no  formally  issued  call  for  such  a  meeting 
of  protest,  the  entire  population  of  the  surrounding  country 
surged  into  Kaskaskia  to  vent  their  indignation  in  speech. 
Daniel  Blouin,  a  French-Canadian  fur  trader,  whose  name 
should  be  preserved  in  our  records  with  special  honor,  came 
to  the  front  as  leader.  Acting  as  the  mouthpiece  of  those 
earnest  souls  behind  him,  he  sent  to  Lord  Dartmouth  a 
protest  against  his  "  Sketch  of  Government,"  expressed  in 
no  uncertain  language.  The  "  Sketch  "  was  rejected  "  as 
oppressive  and  absurd,  much  worse  than  that  of  any  of  the 
French,  or  even  of  the  Spanish  colonies."  And  to  this  inso- 
lence was  boldly  added:  "  Should  a  government  so  evidently 
tyrannical  be  established,  it  could  be  of  no  long  duration. 
There  would  exist  the  necessity  of  its  being  abolished." 


!6o  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

This  was  away  back  in  1771,  and  occurred  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  Illinois  wilderness.  There  was  certainly  some- 
thing heroic  and  stirring  about  the  defiant  attitude  of  this 
little  isolated  band  of  men,  largely  uneducated,  foreign 
of  birth,  who  had  been  transferred  by  fate  of  war  to  the 
British  Crown,  yet  insisted  boldly  on  every  right  which  that 
transfer  gave  them.  '  They  were  not  born  free,"  in  the 
words  of  Mason,  who  has  made  the  most  careful  investigation 
of  this  incident,  "  but  they  were  determined  to  die  free,"  and 
thus  early  in  that  great  controversy  leading  up  to  the  struggle 
of  the  Revolution,  these  men  of  obscure  Illinois  stood  dar- 
ingly forth,  rebels  for  freedom.  It  is  worth  while  that  we 
remember  it,  and  write  the  name  of  Daniel  Blouin,  of 
Kaskaskia,  with  the  deed  of  these  early  protestants,  high 
on  the  roll  of  honor. 

Twice  during  the  continuance  of  the  revolutionary 
struggle  was  the  Illinois  country  invaded  by  hostile  British 
arms.  The  first  invasion  occurred  in  1779,  soon  after 
Clark's  conquest,  and  was  directed  against  the  French 
trading-post  of  Le  Pe,  near  where  Peoria  stands.  The  force 
used  consisted  almost  entirely  of  Indians,  recruited  about 
Mackinac,  but  was  commanded  by  Charles  de  Verville,  a 
Canadian  in  the  British  service.  He  followed  the  water- 
way from  the  Chicago  portage,  surprised  the  unsuspecting 
French  settlers,  capturing  and  burning  their  stockade.  No 
attempt,  however,  was  made  to  hold  the  place,  and  the 
motley  company  retraced  their  steps,  laden  with  spoils  and 
a  few  prisoners. 

The  second  expedition,  which  occurred  the  following 
year,  was  planned  for  more  permanent  results,  but  ended 
in  failure  because  of  an  evident  misunderstanding  of  orders 
on  the  part  of  the  commanders  of  the  separate  columns  en- 
gaged. St.  Louis,  then  a  Spanish  village,  was  the  principal 
point  of  attack,  and  a  horde  of  Indians,  recruited  on  the  Fox 
and  Wisconsin  Rivers,  and  commanded  by  British  officers, 


THF  SPANISH  INVASION  161 

was  despatched  down  the  Mississippi,  expecting  to  cooperate 
with  a  similar  body  advancing  from  the  south.  The  latter 
failed  to  appear,  and  the  expedition  degenerated  into  a  mere 
raid,  the  allied  Indians  being  finally  scattered  and  driven 
back  to  their  northern  haunts.  Charles  de  Longlade  en- 
deavored to  assist  in  this  affair  by  leading  a  party  of  savages 
into  the  Illinois  country  by  way  of  the  Chicago  portage,  but 
arrived  too  late.  "  Old  Jean  Baptiste  Pointe  au  Sable,  the 
negro  trader  then  living  along  the  Chicago  River,"  comments 
Mason,  "  saw  them  come  and  go,  but  was  protected  by  his 
British  commission,  and  suffered  nothing  at  their  hands." 
Elsewhere  it  is  stated  that  probably  Clark  first  unfolded 
the  United  States  flag  on  Illinois  soil  near  Fort  Massac. 
It  is  possible,  however,  that  it  was  seen  here  even  earlier. 
In  1778  James  Willing,  a  Captain  in  the  Continental  army, 
built  an  armed  vessel  at  Fort  Pitt,  and  set  out  upon  a  cruise 
down  the  Ohio.  He  certainly  skirted  the  entire  boundary 
of  Southern  Illinois,  captured  a  number  of  traders,  and 
greatly  alarmed  the  commandant  at  Kaskaskia.  But 
Willing  turned  down  the  Mississippi,  and  after  a  series  of 
adventures  was  captured  at  Mobile.  It  is  not  at  all  improb- 
able that  at  his  adventurous  mast-head  defiantly  floated  the 
newly  designed  Stars  and  Stripes. 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE   EARLY    LEAD-MINERS    OF  FEVER  RIVER1 

AS  early  as  1659  the  French  became  aware  that  the  Ind- 
ians procured  lead  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fever  River, 
now  the  Galena,  in  the  northwestern  corner  of  the  present 
Illinois.  Radisson  and  Groseilliers  were  the  first  to  make 
definite  mention  of  this  rumor,  which  came  to  them  from 
the  lips  of  the  Sioux.  Hennepin's  map  of  1687  locates  a 
recognized  lead  mine  near  where  Galena  now  stands,  while 
Joutel,  visiting  that  neighborhood  the  same  year,  gives 
definite  description  of  several  such  mines  throughout  the 
region.  During  1690,  Nicholas  Perrot,  at  that  date  French 
commandant  of  the  West,  established  a  small  trading  and 
military  stockade  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Mississippi 
opposite  Dubuque,  and  visited  the  Indian  mines  in  person, 
but  seemingly  this  establishment  was  but  temporary.  Cer- 
tainly the  Indians  frequently  brought  to  the  few  adventurers 
then  in  the  country  numerous  specimens  of  this  lead  ore. 

But  nothing  permanent  appears  to  have  been  attempted 
regarding  development  of  these  finds  previous  to  1699. 
Some  six  years  earlier  Le  Sueur,  then  commandant  at  Che- 
quamegon  Bay,  extended  his  widening  explorations  through- 
out this  region,  finally  erecting  a  fort  of  some  considerable 
size  and  importance  on  a  large  island  in  the  Mississippi 
somewhere  between  Lake  Pepin  and  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Croix.  While  at  this  work  he  reports  "  discovering  mines 

1  Much  of  the  historical  data  in  this  chapter  was  long  hidden  away  in 
the  pages  of  local  newspapers  and  unpublished  manuscripts,  until  dug  out, 
and  lately  published,  by  Dr.  Reuben  Gold  Thwaites,  to  whom  the  present 
writer  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  for  facts. 

162 


EARLY  LEAD-MINERS  OF  FEVER  RIVER       163 

of  lead,  copper,  and  blue  and  green  earth,"  and  as  a  result  of 
such  discoveries  went  to  France  hoping  to  gain  permission 
from  the  French  authorities  to  work  them  somewhat  to 
his  own  profit.  On  his  return  he  arrived  in  Louisiana 
with  D'Iberville's  second  expedition,  in  December,  1699. 
Under  the  King's  commission  Le  Sueur  had  with  him  thirty 
miners,  and  was  accompanied  by  one  Penicaut,  who  acted 
as  personal  companion  and  reporter.  This  latter  wrote  an 
account  of  the  expedition,  quoted  by  Dr.  Thwing,  in  his 
most  valuable  essay  on  this  subject,  and,  after  describing 
graphically  the  rapids  in  the  Mississippi  at  Rock  Island, 
says: 

"  We  found  both  on  the  right  and  left  bank  the  lead  mines, 
called  to  this  day  the  mines  of  Nicholas  Perrot,  the  name  of  the 
discoverer.  Twenty  leagues  from  there  on  the  right,  was  found  the 
mouth  of  a  large  river,  the  Ouisconsin." 

By  United  States  land  survey,  Dr.  Thwing  states,  the 
distance  has  since  been  measured  at  thirty-nine  English 
miles.  It  was  nearly  the  middle  of  August,  1700,  when 
these  adventurers  arrived  opposite  the  mouth  of  Fever  River, 
which  Penicaut  called  "  Riviere  a  la  Mine."  He  tells  us 
that  up  this  little  stream,  only  about  a  league  and  a  half, 
there  was  seen  "  a  lead  mine  in  the  prairie."  Passing  farther 
up  the  Mississippi,  a  number  of  others  were  likewise  dis- 
covered, but  these  latter  were  within  the  limits  of  Wiscon- 
sin rather  than  Illinois.  La  Sueur  passed  the  following 
Winter  on  the  Blue  River,  but  for  some  reason  now  un- 
known made  no  further  effort  to  profit  by  his  valuable  dis- 
coveries; the  following  Summer  he  abandoned  the  country 
and  returned  to  France,  having  accomplished  nothing  from 
his  concession. 

Very  little  more  was  heard  regarding  these  deposits  for 
fifteen  years,  although  wandering  coureurs  de  bois  traded 
with  the  Indians  thereabout  for  sufficient  lead  to  supply  their 
own  immediate  requirements.  In  1715,  La  Mothe  Cadillac, 


164  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Governor  of  Louisiana,  came  up  into  the  Illinois  country 
searching  for  silver,  but  had  to  be  satisfied  with  carrying 
back  some  samples  of  lead  ore  taken  "  from  mines  fourteen 
miles  west  of  the  river,"  probably  those  near  Dubuque. 
In  1721,  there  arrived  in  the  Illinois,  accompanied  by  a 
numerous  company  of  miners  and  San  Domingo  slaves, 
Philippe  Francois  de  Renault,  newly  appointed  "  director- 
general  of  the  mines  of  the  Royal  India  Company  in  Illinois." 
His  parties  of  prospectors  ranged  widely  along  both  sides 
of  the  Mississippi,  probably  as  high  up  as  Minnesota  and 
Wisconsin,  and  during  the  four  years  spent  in  the  district 
made  numerous  discoveries  of  lead,  but  principally  within 
the  present  limits  of  Missouri.  After  the  final  dispersion 
of  Renault's  settlement  in  Monroe  County,  the  next  direct 
reference  to  the  upper  lead  mines  is  given  by  M.  le  Guis  in 
1743,  when  he  describes  at  some  length  the  methods  then 
employed  by  "  eighteen  or  twenty  "  miners  he  saw  operating 
on  Fever  River.  Mentioning  no  names  he  speaks  of  them 
as  "  a  fast  lot,  every  man  working  for  himself  at  surface 
operations,  and  extracting  only  enough  to  secure  a  bare 
existence  throughout  the  year." 

His  graphic  report  of  these  early  smelting  operations 
is  interesting: 

"  They  cut  down  two  or  three  big  trees  and  divide  them  in 
logs  five  feet  long;  then  they  dig  a  small  basin  in  the  ground,  and 
pile  three  or  four  of  these  logs  on  top  of  each  other  over  this 
basin ;  then  they  cover  it  with  the  same  wood,  and  put  three  more 
logs,  shorter  than  the  others,  on  top,  and  one  at  each  end  cross- 
ways.  This  makes  a  kind  of  box,  in  which  they  put  the  mineral, 
then  they  pile  as  much  wood  as  they  can  on  top,  and  around  it. 
When  this  is  done  they  set  fire  to  it  from  under;  the  logs  burn  up 
and  partly  melt  the  mineral.  They  are  sometimes  obliged  to  repeat 
the  same  operation  three  times  in  order  to  extract  all  the  matter. 
This  matter  falling  into  the  basin,  forms  a  lump,  which  they  after- 
ward melt  over  again  into  bars  weighing  from  sixty  to  eighty 


EARLY  LEAD-MINERS  OF  FEVER  RIVER       165 

pounds,  in  order  to  facilitate  the  transportation  to  Kaskaskia.  This 
is  done  with  horses,  who  are  quite  vigorous  in  the  country.  One 
horse  generally  carries  four  or  five  of  these  bars.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark  that,  in  spite  of  the  bad  system,  there  has  been  taken  out  of 
the  La  Motte  mine  2,500  of  these  bars  in  1741,  2,228  in  1742, 
and  these  men  only  work  four  or  five  months  in  the  year  at  most." 

Modern  miners,  Dr.  Thwaites  remarks,  in  quoting  this 
report,  will  see  in  this  description  little  difference  in  method 
from  that  followed  by  later  American  operators  up  to  the 
time  of  the  introduction  of  the  Drummond  blast  furnace 
in  1836. 

Until  November,  1762,  France  was  in  complete  control 
of  both  sides  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  Eastern  Missouri 
and  Eastern  Iowa  were  referred  to  in  French  reports  as  be- 
ing part  of  the  Illinois  country.  This  fact  creates  some 
slight  confusion  as  to  the  location  of  mines.  Little,  how- 
ever, remains  of  record  regarding  the  development  of  the 
mineral  deposits  constantly  being  discovered  in  the  real 
Illinois,  although  it  is  evident,  from  subsequent  English 
writings,  that  these  opportunities  were  not  wholly  neglect- 
ed. In  the  Journal  of  Captain  Henry  Gordon,  written  in 
1766,  occurs  this  mention  in  proof  that  the  mines  were 
continually  operated: 

"  The  French  have  large  boats  of  twenty  tons,  rowed  with 
twenty  oars,  which  will  go  in  seventy  odd  days  from  New  Orleans 
to  the  Illinois.  These  boats  go  to  the  Illinois  twice  a  year,  and  are 
not  half  loaded  on  their  return ;  was  there  any  produce  worth 
sending  to  market,  they  could  carry  it  at  no  great  expense.  They, 
however,  carry  lead,  the  produce  of  a  mine  on  the  French  side  of 
the  river,  which  yields  but  a  small  quantity,  as  they  have  not  hands 
to  work  it.  These  boats,  in  times  of  the  floods,  which  happen  only 
in  May  and  June,  go  down  to  New  Orleans  from  the  Illinois  in 
fourteen  and  sixteen  days." 

The  earliest  application  on  record  for  any  grant  of  lead- 
mining  land  within  the  valley  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  is 


1 66  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

credited  to  one  Duralde  in  1769.  It  was  signed  by  Belle 
Rive,  the  commandant  at  Fort  Chartres.  This  tract  em- 
braced land  "  three  arpents  in  front,  by  the  ordinary  depth  " 
(probably  forty  arpents),  on  Le  Sueur's  River  of  the  Mines 
(Fever  River),  "  a  hundred  and  sixty  leagues,  more  or  less, 
above  St.  Louis."  Dr.  Thwaites  decides,  from  the  general 
tone  of  Duralde's  petition,  that  he  must  have  been  a  ne'er- 
do-well,  and  certain  it  is  that  he  never  settled  on  his  lands, 
or  operated  any  mines.  So  far  as  Illinois  is  concerned, 
the  next  person  of  importance  to  appear  in  this  upper  wil- 
derness was  Julien  Dubuque.  The  exact  date  of  his  entrance 
to  the  immediate  region  remains  obscured,  but  he  soon  be- 
came a  man  of  influence  among  the  surrounding  Indian 
tribes,  and  proved  himself  possessed  of  what  the  majority 
of  his  nationality  seemed  to  lack,  business  energy.  He 
first  obtained,  in  1788,  permission  to  work  the  lead  mines 
undisturbed,  from  a  council  of  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  with 
whom  he  was  on  the  most  friendly  terms  as  a  trader.  The 
greater  part  of  Dubuque's  mining  operations  were  carried 
on  west  of  the  Mississippi  near  where  the  city  bearing  his 
name  now  stands.  These  were  known  then  as  "  The  Spanish 
Mines,"  possibly  because  some  of  that  race  had  originally 
discovered  them,  although  Dubuque  had  made  several  ad- 
ditional discoveries  of  his  own. 

But  Dubuque,  always  full  of  abounding  energy,  did  not 
entirely  restrict  himself  to  these  operations  on  the  west 
shore.  Tradition  whispers  that  at  the  time  of  his  first 
location  at  the  Spanish  mines,  a  man  named  Du  Bois  was 
engaged  alone  in  working  a  lead  mine  on  the  Illinois  shore 
nearly  opposite  —  probably  a  little  south  of  the  present 
village  of  Dunleith.  There  had  been  considerable  Indian 
trouble  in  that  country,  originating  over  the  desire  of  the 
whites  to  mine  for  lead.  As  late  as  1780  it  was  reported 
by  Lieutenant  Governor  Patrick  Sinclair  that  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  were  in  active  alliance  with  the  Spanish  and  Amer- 


EARLY  LEAD-MINERS  OF  FEVER  RIVER       167 

ican  (probably  meaning  French)  miners  against  further 
British  encroachment.  The  result  was  that  the  British  in 
their  turn  sought  savage  allies.  The  Winnebagoes  and  Meno- 
minees  assisted  them  in  an  open  attack  on  a  party  of  these 
miners,  and  seventeen  Americans  and  Spaniards  were  taken 
as  prisoners  to  Mackinac.  But  this  state  of  affairs  did  not 
greatly  trouble  Dubuque,  who  retained  friendship  with  all 
the  tribes,  and  his  prospectors  and  miners  continued  to 
roam  at  will  over  the  northern  Illinois  country.  They  cer- 
tainly opened  leads  on  Apple  River  near  the  present  village 
of  Elizabeth,  and  in  1805  were  operating  the  Old  Buck 
and  Hog  leads  on  Fever  River.  Undoubtedly  there  were 
at  this  time  more  white  miners  in  the  region  than  we  have 
any  means  of  tracing. 

Nearly  all  of  these  oldest  mines  were  originally  worked 
in  superficial  fashion  by  Indians.  Probably  a  few  had  so 
been  operated  for  fully  a  century  before  the  arrival  of 
white  men.  In  those  earlier  times  their  tools  were  buck- 
horns,  many  of  which  were  found  in  abandoned  drifts  by 
the  first  settlers.  Something  of  the  nature  of  their  oper- 
ations has  been  recorded,  and  described  by  Dr.  Thwaites. 
The  savages  would  load  their  ore  at  the  bottom  of  the  shaft 
into  deerskin  bags,  and  hoist  or  drag  it  to  the  surface  by 
means  of  long  thongs  of  hide.  The  lower  work  was  perform- 
ed almost  entirely  by  old  men  and  squaws,  the  warriors  doing 
the  smelting  above.  Dubuque,  through  his  influence  as  a 
trader,  made  considerable  use  of  the  Indians  in  all  his  mining 
adventures.  Besides  working  them  in  his  mines,  he  em- 
ployed others  in  wide  prospecting  tours,  continually  seeking 
new  leads.  When  any  were  thus  discovered  and  reported 
to  him,  he  would  at  once  despatch  Canadians,  or  half-breeds, 
to  prove  up  the  claims.  "  In  this  manner,"  comments 
Thwaites,  "  almost  the  entire  lead  region  of  Iowa,  Wiscon- 
sin, and  Illinois  became  occupied  by  Dubuque's  men, 
before  the  Americans  came  in  for  permanent  settlement." 


1 68  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

It  was  a  case  where   possession  was  fully  nine  points  of 
the  law. 

On  the  east,  or  Illinois,  side  of  the  river  he  met,  however, 
with  some  considerable  opposition  from  representatives 
of  the  American  Fur  Company,  who,  through  friendship 
with  the  chiefs  of  the  Foxes,  obtained  considerable  supplies 
of  lead,  and  are  even  said  to  have  smelted  some  for  them- 
selves. But  it  was  not  until  after  France  in  1803  disposed 
of  her  rights  in  all  this  Western  territory  to  the  United  States, 
that  Dubuque  began  to  meet  with  any  decided  competition, 
nor  was  that  destined  to  become  serious,  as  his  death  occurred 
in  1810.  The  first  adventurous  American  of  whom  we 
have  distinct  trace  to  try  his  fortune  in  this  region  was 
George  E.  Jackson,  a  Missouri  miner.  He  built  a  rude 
log  furnace  as  early  as  1811  on  an  island,  which  has  since 
disappeared.  From  accounts  preserved  it  lay  then  near 
the  eastern  bank  of  the  river,  just  below  Dunleith,  about 
opposite  the  mouth  of  Catfish  Creek.  Jackson  took  his 
store  of  lead  down  the  river  by  flat-boat,  accompanied  by 
one  assistant,  and  is  reported  to  have  had  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  with  hostile  Indians  on  the  way.  Indeed  all  these 
earlier  American  miners  were  greatly  harassed  by  the  sav- 
ages, although  the  French  appear  to  have  had  little  trouble. 
A  year  or  so  later,  one  John  S.  Miller,  possibly  Jackson's 
earlier  assistant,  became  associated  with  him  as  a  partner,  but 
very  soon  after  this  the  island  was  abandoned  by  both  men, 
probably  on  account  of  trouble  with  the  Indians.  Five 
years  later  Miller  came  back,  accompanied  by  two  com- 
panions, traded  some  lead  for  goods  at  Dubuque's  old 
mines,  and  penetrated  the  country  as  far  as  Galena,  remain- 
ing for  some  years  in  the  district,  but  accomplishing  little  in 
mining. 

Even  at  this  period,  and  for  considerable  time  following, 
nearly  all  the  practical  lead-mining  was  performed  by  Ind- 
ian labor,  although  occasionally  under  white  supervision. 


EARLY  LEAD-MINERS  OF  FEVER  RIVER       169 

Practical  white  miners  penetrated  the  district  very  slowly. 
Nicholas  Boilvin,  writing  to  the  Secretary  of  War  under 
date  of  February,  1811,  reports  that  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  on 
the  east  side  of  the  river,  and  the  lowas  on  the  west  side 
had  "  mostly  abandoned  the  chase,  and  turned  their  atten- 
tion to  the  manufacture  of  lead."  He  reports  that  in  1810 
they  manufactured  four  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  the 
metal  and  disposed  of  it  to  Canadian  traders.  As  early  as 
1810  Henry  Shreeve  bought  lead  of  Indian  miners  on  Fever 
River,  taking  a  small  boat-load  down  the  Mississippi.  The 
War  of  1812  created  a  lead  demand,  and  resulted  in  an  un- 
usual output  under  the  supervision  of  English  officers.  Dur- 
ing the  five  years  between  1815  and  1820  Captain  John 
Shaw  made  eight  trips  in  a  trading  boat  between  St.  Louis 
and  Prairie  du  Chien.  At  the  Fever  River  mines  he  saw 
Indians  smelting  ore  in  rude  furnaces,  and  at  one  time 
bought  from  them  seventy  tons  of  metal,  without  in  any 
considerable  measure  reducing  their  supply. 

Meanwhile  the  commercial  rivalry  existing  between 
the  French-Canadians,  operating  by  way  of  the  lakes,  and 
the  rapidly  encroaching  Americans  pushing  up  the  river, 
was  becoming  more  acute,  even  resulting  in  armed  inter- 
vention and  bloodshed.  As  these  operations  were  being 
carried  on  in  the  very  heart  of  the  Indian  country  all  parties 
concerned  —  traders,  prospectors,  and  miners  —  travelled 
heavily  armed,  and  any  chance  meeting  of  the  bitterly  war- 
ring elements  was  apt  to  result  in  open  conflict.  Details 
of  such  hostile  meetings  are  lacking,  but  up  to  1819  it  is  known 
that  several  American  traders,  attempting  to  open  negoti- 
ations with  Indian  miners  in  opposition  to  the  interests  of 
Canadian  traders,  had  been  waylaid  and  killed.  In  1815 
a  crew  of  American  boatmen  endeavoring  to  pole  their  way 
up  Fever  River  were  stopped  by  the  Indians  themselves, 
probably  instigated  by  Canadian  influence.  Colonel  George 
Davenport,  however,  as  agent  of  the  American  Fur  Com- 


1 7o  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

pany,  was  on  most  cordial  terms  with  the  chiefs  of  the  Sacs 
and  Foxes,  and  at  one  time  erected  a  trading-post  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Fever,  and  so  far  as  known,  experienced  no 
difficulty.  He  has  the  credit  of  shipping  to  St.  Louis  the 
first  flat-boat  cargo  of  lead  coming  direct  from  the  Fever 
River  mines.  This  was  in  1816,  but  it  is  probable  others 
were  sent  down  earlier,  but  failed  of  record. 

As  early  as  1804,  United  States  government  officials 
began  to  evince  an  interest  in  this  property.  In  that  year 
Governor  Harrison  bought  from  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  a  tract 
of  land  lying;  contingent  to  the  mouth  of  the  Fever  River 

J         O  D 

fifteen  miles  square.  In  August,  1816,  a  treaty  was  con- 
cluded with  the  Ottawas,  Chippewas,  and  Pottawattomies 
in  which  a  tract  five  leagues  square  on  the  Mississippi, 
the  exact  limits  to  be  afterwards  designated  by  the 
President,  was  reserved  for  the  United  States,  and  with- 
held from  settlement.  For  several  years  following  nothing 
official  was  done,  but  the  tide  of  American  immigration 
became  perceptibly  stronger.  In  1819  a  number  of  miners 
and  traders  settled  throughout  the  Fever  River  district, 
including  Jesse  W.  Shull,  Fra^ois  Bouthillier,  Samuel 
C.  Muir,  and  A.  P.  Van  Metre.  These  men  took  Fox 
Indian  women  for  wives,  and  thus  remained  unmolested. 
Muir  has  credit  for  naming  Galena. 

The  largest  reported  discovery  of  lead  ore  up  to  this  date 
was  made  about  a  mile  above  the  Galena  site  by  Indian 
prospectors.  It  required  the  entire  force  of  the  band  to 
raise  the  enormous  nugget  to  the  surface.  Never  preserved 
in  its  entirety,  it  was  disposed  of  to  visiting  traders  in  small 
amounts,  so  that  the  true  value  of  the  find  has  never  been 
ascertained.  Some  time  either  in  1819  or  1820  there  came 
to  this  region  a  man  destined  to  exercise  much  influence 
in  its  future  development.  This  was  Colonel  James 
Johnson,  of  Kentucky,  a  brother  of  that  Colonel  Richard 
M.  Johnson,  who  was  reputed  to  have  slain  Tecumseh. 


EARLY  LEAD-MINERS  OF  FEVER  RIVER       171 

Johnson  was  a  man  of  brains,  energy,  and  some  means. 
The  exact  date  of  his  first  experiment  in  lead-trading  is 
unknown,  but  a  traveller  in  that  country  in  1821  speaks  of 
meeting  his  flat-boats  on  the  Mississippi,  loaded  with  ore. 
Johnson  at  once  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  those  rights 
offered  under  government  sanction.  Just  before  the  date 
of  his  arrival  Major  Thomas  Forsyth,  on  behalf  of  the  gov- 
ernment, had  reported  the  number,  situation,  and  quality 
of  all  the  lead  mines  lying  between  Apple  Creek  and  Prairie 
du  Chien.  This  report  was  of  vast  assistance  to  prospectors, 
and,  coupled  with  the  Act  of  Congress  in  1807,  opened  the 
way  to  extensive  operations  under  form  of  law.  In  that 
year  the  mineral  lands  had  been  reserved  from  sale,  while 
it  was  ordered  that  leases  be  granted  to  individuals  for  terms 
of  either  three  or  five  years.  Owing  to  Indian  hostility, 
as  well  as  Canadian  intrigue,  no  immediate  advantage 
was  taken  of  this  Act  in  the  Upper  Mississippi  region. 
Here  the  few  scattered  miners  continued  to  operate  inde- 
pendently, ami .  without  system.  Indeed  the  first  lease  in 
the  Fever  River  country  was  not  issued  until  1822,  fifteen 
years  later,  to  four  Kentuckians,  and  there  is  no  record 
that  they  ever  made  any  use  of  it,  or  even  visited  Fever 
River. 

But  on  April  12  of  that  same  year,  Colonel  Johnson 
secured  a  three  years'  lease,  and  at  once  began  active  oper- 
ations. He  took  with  him  to  the  mines,  from  Southern 
Illinois  and  Kentucky,  a  large  number  of  competent  work- 
men, besides  some  negro  slaves,  and  a  complete  supply  of 
requisite  tools,  for  operations  on  an  extensive  scale.  En- 
camping very  close  to  where  Galena  now  stands,  Johnson 
began  mining  in  a  way  never  before  attempted  in  the  lead 
country.  Several  French  and  Indian  settlements  were 
close  at  hand,  but  his  camp  being  kept  under  strong  military 
protection  was  not  molested.  From  this  moment  may 
properly  be  said  to  date  the  real  advance  of  lead-mining  in 


172  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

the  State,  as  then  it  definitely  passed  from  out  Indian  hands, 
and  primitive  methods,  to  more  intelligent  guidance,  and 
scientific  discovery.  Colonel  Johnson  met  with  almost 
immediate  success,  and  his  example  was  followed  by  others, 
who  were  thus  encouraged  to  invest  capital  in  the  enterprise. 
Yet  at  first  the  change  in  population  and  output  was  ex- 
tremely slow.  The  following  year  only  nine  lessees  are  of 
record,  but  among  them  was  Dr.  Moses  Meeker,  who  es- 
tablished a  large  colony,  and  became  quite  influential  in 
mining  operations. 

But  meantime  there  flocked  into  this  northern  country 
a  horde  of  squatters  and  prospectors  from  Missouri,  Ken- 
tucky, and  Tennessee.  These  largely  arrived  by  boat  via 
the  Mississippi,  although  not  a  few  travelled  overland  by 
way  of  Fort  Clark,  at  the  Peoria  Lake,  and  thence  north 
along  an  old  Indian  track,  later  known  as  "  Kellogg' s  Trail." 
The  old  Lewiston  trail  across  Rock  County  was  also  ex- 
tensively used  during  this  migration.  Few  of  these  arrivals 
possessed  any  means,  and  fewer  still  paid  any  attention  to 
congressional  enactments.  Nor  were  they  greatly  encour- 
aged to  do  so.  The  lessees,  then  operating,  received  little 
if  any  support  in  their  rights  under  the  law;  protracted 
disputes  followed,  and  much  money  and  time  were  wasted 
in  legal  squabbling.  As  a  result  unlicensed  plants  became 
more  and  more  numerous,  until  the  leasing  system  grew 
so  unpopular,  and  yielded  so  small  a  revenue  to  the  govern- 
ment, that  in  1846,  under  another  Act  of  Congress,  the 
lands  were  placed  on  the  open  market  and  sold. 

Here  and  there  throughout  the  lead  country  are  yet  to  be 
discovered  many  interesting  details  regarding  the  adven- 
tures of  these  early  pioneers,  who  won  their  way  through 
personal  dangers  and  financial  difficulties.  A  report 
issued  to  Congress  in  1826  by  Lieutenant  Thomas  says 
there  were  in  the  Fever  River  diggings  the  first  of  July  the 
year  previous  about  a  hundred  persons  engaged  in  mining ; 


EARLY  LEAD-MINERS  OF  FEVER  RIVER        173 

which  number  increased  to  four  hundred  and  fifty-three 
by  August,  1826.  This  refers  probably  to  American  miners. 
The  heaviest  immigration  began  in  1829,  from  which  time 
we  may  safely  date  the  modern  history  of  this  industry, 
naming  all  those  present  previously  in  that  region  the  real 
pioneers. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

OLD-TIME   FORTS   AND   THEIR   HISTORIES 

FROM  time  immemorial  to  these  piping  days  of  peace, 
this  country  of  the  Illinois  has  been  dotted  with  for- 
tifications. The  remains  of  ancient  works,  undoubtedly 
of  this  character,  are  traceable  along  the  valleys  of  the 
Rock  and  Illinois  Rivers,  as  well  as  in  the  American  Bottom, 
some  antedating  even  Indian  occupancy.  With  the  earliest 
coming  of  French  explorers  the  far-reaching  plans  of  La 
Salle  began  immediately  to  take  practical  form  in  the  erec- 
tion of  forts,  and,  in  a  measure,  was  continued  by  his  suc- 
cessors. Many  of  these  were  but  temporary,  small  affairs, 
mere  walls  of  mud,  crowned  possibly  with  log  palisades, 
and  intended  for  resting-places  on  some  route  of  travel 
or  for  the  protection  of  fur  traders.  The  one  at  Chicago  is 
a  fair  illustration  of  the  former,  that  on  the  present  site  of 
Waukegan  of  the  latter.  Of  Chicago  we  have  but  a  glimpse, 
with  the  testimony  of  Tonty,  that  Oliver  Morel,  Sieur  de  La 
Durantaye,  commanded  there  in  1685.  The  number  of  his 
garrison  is  unknown,  but  it  was  undoubtedly  small.  That 
at  Waukegan  was  a  fur-trading  station  built  for  protection 
against  the  savages,  and  was  long  known  as  the  Little  Fort. 
It  was  established  about  the  year  1720,  and  remained  in 
existence  until  1760.  An  easy  portage  could  be  made  from 
this  point  to  the  Des  Plaines,  and  was  probably  a  well-used 
water  route.  Other  similar  French  trading-posts  —  which 
by  courtesy  were  called  forts  —  were  erected  near  the  present 
site  of  Peoria,  and  on  the  Mississippi  opposite  the  mouth  of 
the  Des  Moines.  Doubtless  there  were  many  more,  the 
locations  of  which  have  not  been  preserved. 

174 


OLD-TIME  FORTS  AND  THEIR  HISTORIES     175 

The  earliest  true  fortress  erected  within  the  present 
State  boundaries  by  white  men  was  La  Salle's  Crevecoeur  — 
the  "  Fort  of  the  Broken  Heart  " —  on  the  east  shore  of  the 
Illinois,  just  below  Peoria  Lake,  in  the  year  1680.  It  was 
a  well-conceived  defence  as  against  savages  ;  its  general 
plan  is  fully  described  in  our  chapter  devoted  to  La  Salle. 
It  was  occupied  only  a  few  months,  being  utterly  destroyed 
by  mutineers  during  the  temporary  absence  of  Tonty,  who 
had  been  left  in  command.  No  attempt  was  ever  made  at 
rebuilding,  and  to-day  even  the  exact  site  remains  a  matter  of 
controversy,  but  it  probably  stood  on  the  present  site  of 
Wesley  City,  about  three  miles  below  Peoria.  It  consti- 
tuted the  fourth  in  that  long  chain  of  fortifications  projected 
by  La  Salle  to  extend  from  Montreal  to  the  Gulf,  for  the 
perpetuation  of  French  power  in  this  vast  Western  domain. 

The  truly  important  French  forts  erected  within  the 
Illinois  country  were  three  in  number, —  St.  Louis  on  Starved 
Rock,  Massac  on  the  Ohio  River,  and  Chartres  on  the 
Mississippi.  The  latter  is  said  to  have  been  the  greatest 
structure  of  its  kind  ever  built  by  France  on  the  American 
continent.  La  Salle  and  Tonty,  assisted  by  a  few  Canadian 
voyageurs,  and  a  number  of  Illinois  Indians,  began  the 
erection  of  Fort  St.  Louis  in  November,  1682.  This  was 
immediately  following  their  return  from  the  discovery  of 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  the  point  selected 
was  an  ideal  one.  Some  few  miles  below  the  city  of  Ottawa, 
but  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Illinois,  rises  an  immense 
clifF,  peculiarly  conspicuous  for  its  isolation  and  inaccessi- 
bility. Two  years  before,  it  had  been  selected  by  La  Salle 
for  this  purpose,  and  now,  having  finally  decided  upon 
establishing  a  permanent  colony  of  Algonquins  upon  the 
Utica  meadows,  he  determined  to  build  here  a  fort  for  their 
better  protection.  Let  us  mark  for  a  moment  that  com- 
manding eminence  of  Starved  Rock,  as  it  stood  then, — 
more  than  two  hundred  years  ago,  —  and  as  it  stands  to-day. 


I76  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

It  rises  directly  from  the  river,  as  steep  on  three  sides  as  a 
castle-wall,  to  the  height  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet. 
Its  beetling  front  overhangs  the  stream  washing  its  base,  so 
that  water  could  be  drawn  up  by  a  cord  and  bucket  from 
below,  while  its  western  brow  looks  dizzily  down  upon  the 
tops  of  vast  forest  trees  beneath.  To  the  east  opens  a  wild 
gorge,  or  ravine,  nearly  two  hundred  feet  across,  choked  with 
foliage,  a  little  brook  creeping  down  through  the  rocky  depths. 
On  the  other  side  is  a  wide  valley.  This  cliff,  in  those  old 
days,  was  accessible  only  from  behind,  where  a  man  might 
toil  up,  although  not  without  great  difficulty,  along  a  steep, 
narrow  passage.  The  circuit  of  its  top  measured  six  hun- 
dred feet.  From  this  summit,  once  attained,  the  magnifi- 
cent valley  of  the  Illinois  is  seen  spreading  out,  as  far  as  the 
vision  will  extend,  in  a  landscape  of  exquisite  beauty.  The 
river  beneath  sweeps  along  amid  a  number  of  heavily  wooded 
islands,  while  farther  away  it  meanders  through  vast  mead- 
ows, until  it  disappears  like  a  thread  of  light  in  the  dim 
distance. 

On  this  ideal  spot,  as  inaccessible  as  an  eagle's  nest, 
these  indomitable  Frenchmen  began  the  erection  of  their 
wilderness  fort.  They  cut  away  the  forest  crowning  the 
summit,  utilizing  the  timber  thus  obtained  for  the  building 
of  storehouses  and  dwellings  for  officers  and  men,  including 
a  warehouse  for  peltries,  and  a  chapel.  Then,  with  immense 
labor,  logs  were  dragged  up  the  steep  pathway  at  the  rear, 
and  the  rock  completely  encircled  with  a  palisade  fifteen 
feet  high.  A  parapet  covered  with  earth  protected  the 
rear,  and  this  was  crowned  with  wooden  spikes,  iron  pointed. 
Scarcely  was  the  work  completed  before  a  vast  Indian  village 
began  to  grow  up  about  it,  and  the  hardy  adventurers  soon 
looked  down  upon  thousands  of  black  tepees  scattered 
far  away  along  the  banks  of  the  river.  Representatives  of 
almost  every  tribe  in  that  country  flocked  there,  to  dwell  in 
supposed  safety  beneath  the  promised  protection  of  the 


OLD-TIME  FORTS  AND  THEIR  HISTORIES     177 

fleur  de  Us;  Fort  St.  Louis  became  instantly  the  Mecca  of 
the  distressed  Algonquins.  It  is  estimated  that  in  less  than 
three  months  fourteen  thousand  Indians  were  encamped 
within  sound  of  the  morning  and  evening  guns.  High 
above,  the  little  garrison  of  Frenchmen  looked  over  their 
palisades,  and  felt  themselves  indeed  masters  of  the  wil- 
derness. 

The  scope  of  the  work  confronting  La  Salle,  and  partic- 
ularly his  political  and  financial  difficulties  in  Canada,  per- 
mitted his  passing  but  little  time  in  carrying  out  those 
gigantic  plans  which  he  had  centred  about  Fort  St.  Louis. 
Its  command  had  to  be  early  entrusted  to  others,  Henri  de 
Tonty,  M.  de  la  Durantaye,  M.  de  Forest,  Sieur  de  Bois- 
rondet,  and  Bellefontaine.  During  one  entire  Winter,  Tonty, 
and  an  officer  of  dragoons,  the  Chevalier  de  Baugy,  ruled 
there  in  unison,  the  one  representing  La  Salle,  the  other 
La  Barre,  the  new  Canadian  governor.  When  Spring  came 
they  were  obliged  to  rally  their  men  to  a  common  defence  of 
the  rock  against  a  sudden  attack  of  the  invading  Iroquois. 
After  six  days  of  fighting,  during  which  several  desperate 
attempts  were  made  to  storm  the  defences,  the  savages  were 
obliged  to  retreat.  We  know  comparatively  little  of  what 
occurred  within  or  without  during  the  existence  of  this  fort, 
or  of  the  personnel  of  its  constantly  changing  garrison. 
Probably  little  of  soldierly  pomp  was  ever  observed,  the  men 
employed  being  mostly  voyageurs  and  coureurs  de  bois,  more 
deeply  interested  in  profitable  fur  trading  or  adventurous 
exploring  than  in  military  exercises.  In  a  letter  written  by 
La  Salle  from  the  Chicago  portage  June  4,  1683,  he  states 
that  the  garrison  then  consisted  of  but  twenty  men,  having 
scarcely  a  hundred  pounds  of  powder,  while  at  another  time 
he  claims  to  have  accomplished  his  entire  work  in  the  Illinois 
country  with  the  help  of  only  twenty-two  Frenchmen. 

From  this  centre,  however,  many  an  exploring  expedition 
set  forth  along  the  water-ways,  or  pushed  forward  into  that 


178  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

unknown  country  away  from  the  familiar  water-courses. 
Various  tribes  were  visited  in  their  far-off  encampments, 
and  a  quite  profitable  fur  trade  rapidly  established,  appar- 
ently greatly  to  the  discomfiture  of  La  Salle's  enemies  in 
Canada,  and  the  envious  traders  at  Mackinac.  Numerous 
missionaries,  mostly  Recollets,  though  with  an  occasional 
wandering  and  inquisitive  black  robe,  made  headquarters 
on  the  rock,  roving  far  among  the  tribes  in  their  efforts  to 
convert  the  savages.  Of  the  presence  of  white  women  at 
Fort  St.  Louis  there  is  little  record,  although  we  know  there 
were  such,  while  many  members  of  the  garrison  found 
sufficient  solace  among  their  red  neighbors.  While  often 
obliged  to  yield  command  temporarily  to  others,  Henri 
de  Tonty  remained  practically  supreme  at  St.  Louis  until 
its  final  abandonment  in  1702,  when  he  was  ordered  to  re- 
move to  the  Mississippi.  The  old  fort  was  later  reoccupied 
by  the  French,  although  not  in  a  military  way,  and  as  late 
as  1718  a  number  of  fur  traders  were  still  making  it  their 
headquarters.  Three  years  after  this  date  it  was  again  en- 
tirely deserted,  and  Charlevoix,  passing  the  spot,  saw  only 
the  remains  of  its  fast-decaying  palisades.  To-day  nothing 
remaining  there  tells  the  patient,  heroic  story  of  that  past, 
excepting  the  same  grim  rock  towering  high  above  the  well- 
tilled  fields  surrounding  it. 

Fort  de  Chartres  was  for  forty-five  years  the  seat  of 
French  power  and  authority  in  the  upper  Mississippi  valley, 
and  for  the  seven  years  following  was  a  British  stronghold. 
Its  history  from  beginning  to  end  is  fraught  with  unique  and 
romantic  interest.  In  December,  1718,  Lieutenant  Pierre 
Dugue  de  Boisbriant,  a  Canadian,  holding  a  French  army 
commission,  accompanied  by  several  officers  and  a  consider- 
able detachment  of  troops,  arrived  at  Kaskaskia  by  boat 
from  New  Orleans.  Having  selected  a  fort  site  eighteen 
miles  above,  and  north  of  the  village,  by  the  end  of  Spring, 
1720,  it  was  practically  completed.  This  fort  stood  on  the 


OLD-TIME  FORTS  AND   THEIR  HISTORIES     179 

alluvial  bottom,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  distant  from  the 
Mississippi,  close  by  the  site  of  a  still  older  fortification  said 
to  have  been  erected  by  adventurers  under  Crozat.  It  was 
constructed  entirely  of  wood,  and  is  described  as  a  stockade 
fort,  strengthened  with  earth  between  the  rows  of  palisades. 
Within  the  enclosure  were  the  commandant's  house,  the 
barracks,  and  a  storehouse,  all  constructed  of  hewn  timber 
and  whip-sawed  plank. 

A  village  almost  immediately  sprang  up  along  the  bottom 
land  between  the  fort  and  the  river,  settled  by  French  immi- 
grants, and  the  enterprising  Jesuits  built  the  church  of  St. 
Anne  de  Fort  Chartres.  This  first  Fort  Chartres  remained 
occupied  by  different  bodies  of  troops  until  1756.  During 
these  thirty-six  years  it  was  the  scene  of  many  stirring  events, 
of  much  important  history.  Here  in  1720  came  Philippe 
Francois  de  Renault,  as  Director-General  of  Mining  Oper- 
ations, bringing  with  him  into  this  wilderness  two  hundred 
white  miners  and  five  hundred  San  Domingo  negroes,  thus 
introducing  slavery  into  the  Illinois  country.  Renault, 
however,  succeeded  in  accomplishing  little  in  the  way  of 
mineral  discovery,  except  to  uncover  a  few  scattered  lodes  of 
lead  ore.  He  was  granted  a  large  tract  of  land  in  Monroe 
County,  on  which  he  laid  out  the  small  village  of  St.  Philippe. 
About  the  same  time  Lainglois,  a  nephew  of  Boisbriant, 
established  the  still  existing  town  of  Prairie  du  Rocher.  In 
1721,  the  post  was  visited  by  the  famous  priest,  Father 
Xavier  de  Charlevoix,  who  was  accompanied  on  his  travels 
by  an  armed  escort,  and  received  with  a  salute  of  honor. 
In  his  train  was  a  young  Canadian  officer,  Louis  St.  Ange 
de  Belle  Rive,  who  decided  to  remain  in  the  country,  and 
afterwards  twice  held  command  at  the  fort.  He  was  a  typi- 
cal French  soldier,  gallant  and  debonair,  ever  ready  either 
for  fight  or  frolic. 

In  1725,  owing  to  Bienville's  recall  to  France,  Boisbriant 
became  acting  Governor  of  Louisiana,  and  his  former  posi- 


i8o  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

tion  as  Major-Commandant  at  the  Illinois  was  given  over 
to  Sieur  de  Liette,  a  captain  in  the  royal  army.  His  admin- 
istration was  principally  notable  for  trouble  with  the  Fox 
Indians,  during  which  the  French  settlements  were  harassed, 
and  troops  from  the  fort  took  part  in  several  skirmishes.  In 
1730  Belle  Rive  succeeded  De  Liette,  holding  the  position 
for  four  years,  during  which  little  occurred  of  any  military 
or  political  importance,  other  than  Indian  expeditions, 
although  Chartres,  under  his  inspiration,  became  a  centre  of 
social  gayety,  the  scene  of  much  ceremony  and  military  pomp. 
In  1734  Belle  Rive  was  transferred  to  Vincennes,  while 
Captain  Pierre  d'Artaguette  was  given  command  at  Char- 
tres. Almost  immediately  tragedy  took  possession  of  the 
boards.  D'Artaguette  was  ordered,  with  every  soldier  who 
could  possibly  be  spared  from  the  garrison,  to  take  part  in  the 
expedition  planned  against  the  Chickasaws  in  Northern 
Mississippi.  In  February,  1736,  he  left  Fort  Chartres 
accompanied  by  thirty  regulars,  one  hundred  volunteers,  and 
two  hundred  Indians,  in  a  great  fleet  of  bateaux  and  canoes. 
At  the  third  Chickasaw  Bluff,  he  was  joined  by  the  Sieur  de 
Vincennes  with  twenty  Frenchmen  and  one  hundred  Indians 
from  the  Wabash.  Marching  inward,  his  undisciplined 
command  became  so  impatient  for  action,  that  the  Indian 
stronghold  was  attacked  before  Bienville  could  arrive  with 
additional  forces  from  New  Orleans.  Although  seemingly 
successful  at  first,  the  final  result  was  a  severe  and  disastrous 
defeat.  D'Artaguette  was  badly  wounded  and  captured, 
together  with  De  Vincennes,  Father  Senat,  a  Jesuit  priest 
from  the  Illinois,  and  about  fifteen  other  Frenchmen,  includ- 
ing young  St.  Ange.  The  prisoners  were  held  for  some 
time  by  the  Chickasaws  in  the  hope  that  Bienville  would 
offer  a  satisfactory  reward  for  their  release.  He  failed  to 
respond  to  their  messages,  and,  at  last,  the  hapless  victims 
were  burned  to  death  by  slow  fires.  The  news  cast  a  gloom 
over  the  entire  country  of  the  Illinois,  and  was  never  for- 


OLD-TIME  FORTS  AND   THEIR  HISTORIES     181 

gotten   by  the   inhabitants,  the  name  of   D'Artaguette    re- 
maining a  household  word  among  the  French  for  years. 

Alphonse  de  la  Buissouiere  was  the  next  commandant 
at  Fort  Chartres.  In  1739  he  led  a  second  expedition  from 
the  Illinois  country  into  the  land  of  the  Chickasaws,  being 
somewhat  more  successful  in  his  operations,  and  escaping 
without  serious  loss  of  life.  The  following  year  he  was 
succeeded  in  office  by  Captain  Benoist  de  St.  Clair,  who 
continued  in  command  of  the  post  for  over  two  years,  with 
nothing  occurring  outside  the  ordinary  routine  of  garrison 
life,  and  an  occasional  grant  of  land.  In  1742,  the  Marquis 
de  Vaudreuil  became  Governor  of  Louisiana  Province,  and 
immediately  appointed  the  Chevalier  de  Bertel  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  Illinois.  He  had  a  somewhat  stormy  time  of 
it,  owing  to  the  early  breaking  out  of  war  between  France 
and  England.  Many  of  the  old-time  Indian  allies  of  the 
French  along  the  border  were  early  won  over  by  British 
agents,  and  much  fear  of  armed  invasion  was  felt  throughout 
the  territory.  The  fort  was  by  this  time  greatly  out  of  repair, 
was  poorly  supplied  with  war  material,  and  its  small  garrison 
depleted  by  desertions.  De  Bertel  anxiously  urged  an  in- 
creased efficiency  upon  his  superiors  at  New  Orleans,  yet  little 
appears  to  have  been  done  except  the  enrolment  of  several 
companies  of  militia  in  the  surrounding  French  settlements, 
and  a  slight  increase  in  the  regular  garrison.  Fortunately 
no  British  appeared  so  far  in  the  wilderness,  and  the  fort 
remained  unmolested  by  enemies.  In  1749,  De  Bertel 
relinquished  his  command,  and  Captain  St.  Clair  once  again 
came  into  control.  He  celebrated  his  return  to  the  post  by 
marrying  the  daughter  of  a  Kaskaskia  citizen,  and  reigned 
until  the  Summer  of  1751,  when  he  in  turn  was  superseded 
by  the  Chevalier  Macarty,  by  descent  an  Irishman,  by  pro- 
fession a  French  Major  of  Engineers.  He  was  accompan- 
ied by  nearly  a  full  regiment  of  grenadiers.  During  his  term 
as  commandant  the  second  Fort  de  Chartres  was  erected. 


1 82  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Of  the  old  fort  no  relic  now  remains,  nor  is  it  possible  to 
determine  its  exact  site. 

This  second  fort,  one  of  the  greatest  ever  built  in  America 
up  to  that  date,  and  the  most  costly  ever  erected  on  this  con- 
tinent by  France,  was  constructed  according  to  plans  pre- 
pared by  an  engineer  officer,  Lieutenant  Jean  B.  Saussier. 
It  was  begun  in  1753,  and  occupied  by  troops  toward  the 
end  of  the  Summer  of  1756.  The  site  chosen  was  about  a 
mile  above  the  old  fort,  and  half  a  mile  back  from  the  river. 
The  spot  selected  would  seem  to  have  been  a  strange  one 
for  so  important  a  structure,  being  low  and  exposed  to  in- 
roads of  water,  but  was  apparently  in  accordance  with 
French  practice.  Here,  at  the  great  expense,  for  those  days, 
of  one  million  dollars,  was  erected  a  vast  fortification.  It 
is  generally  believed  that  large  profits  went  to  the  comman- 
dant and  others  interested  in  its  construction.  The  fort  was 
built  of  limestone,  quarried  from  the  bluffs  four  miles  east, 
where  to  this  day  the  quarry  may  be  seen,  while  the  finer 
stone  with  which  the  gateways  and  buildings  were  all  faced 
came  from  beyond  the  Mississippi.  Altogether  it  covered 
an  area  of  four  acres,  and  was  capable  of  sheltering  a  garrison 
of  three  hundred  men.  The  most  complete  description  of 
its  interior  arrangement  is  that  given  by  Captain  Pitman, 
who  visited  it  ten  years  after  completion,  and  while  it  was 
under  British  control.  He  wrote  as  follows: 

"  The  fort  is  an  irregular  quadrangle ;  the  sides  of  the  exterior 
polygon  being  four  hundred  and  ninety  feet.  The  walls  are  two 
feet,  two  inches  thick,  and  pierced  with  loopholes  at  regular  inter- 
vals, with  two  portholes  for  cannon  in  the  faces,  and  two  in  the 
flanks  of  each  bastion.  The  ditch  has  never  been  finished.  Within 
the  walls  is  a  banquette  raised  three  feet  for  men  to  stand  on  when 
they  fire  through  the  loopholes.  The  buildings  within  the  fort  are 
a  commandant's  house  and  a  commissary's  house,  the  magazine  of 
stores,  corps  de  garde^  and  two  barracks  ;  these  occupy  the  square. 
Within  the  gorges  of  the  bastion  are  a  powder  magazine,  bake- 
house, and  prison,  on  the  floor  of  which  are  four  dungeons." 


OLD-TIME  FORTS  AND  THEIR  HISTORIES     183 

As  early  as  Captain  Pitman's  visit  the  river  current 
had  already  cut  the  bank  away  to  within  eighty  yards  of 
the  fort.  The  great  freshet  of  1772  produced  such  havoc 
that  the  west  walls  and  two  bastions  were  precipitated  into 
the  water.  Soon  after  this  the  British  garrison  were  obliged 
to  desert  it  entirely,  and  took  up  their  quarters  at  Fort  Gage 
on  the  Kaskaskia.  Since  then  it  has  become  a  total  ruin. 
In  1820  sufficient  remained  to  permit  the  making  of  a  very 
careful  drawing  of  the  original  plan.  By  1850  a  dense  forest 
covered  the  site.  To-day  the  sole  existing  memorial  of  the 
old  fort  is  the  powder  magazine,  which  remains  in  a  good 
state  of  preservation,  an  object  picturesque  and  venerable. 

To  resume  the  story  of  this  fort:  in  1760  Macarty  gave 
up  command  to  Neyon  de  Villiers,  who  commanded  the 
French  and  Indians  against  Washington  in  the  fight  at 
Great  Meadows,  a  large  part  of  his  force  on  that  occasion 
coming  from  Fort  Chartres.  During  his  incumbency, 
Pierre  Laclede  Liguest  arrived  at  Fort  Chartres  from  New 
Orleans,  with  a  great  store-boat  deeply  laden  with  miscella- 
neous goods.  After  wintering  at  the  fort,  Laclede  proceeded 
up  the  river  in  February,  1764,  and  landing  on  the  west 
shore,  established  St.  Louis.  In  June,  1764,  Captain  de 
Villiers,  becoming  impatient  over  the  delay  of  the  British 
to  take  possession,  by  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Paris  signed  the 
previous  year,  finally  resigned  his  position,  and  retreated 
down  the  river,  accompanied  by  several  officers,  a 
company  of  soldiers,  and  a  number  of  the  French  inhabi- 
tants, who  were  unwilling  to  remain  in  the  country  under 
English  rule.  The  veteran  St.  Ange  de  Belle  Rive  travelled 
from  Vincennes  and  assumed  command.  With  the  very 
few  soldiers  remaining,  his  task  of  preserving  peace  proved 
a  difficult  one,  but  was  successfully  accomplished,  and  on 
October  10,  1765,  he  finally  surrendered  the  fort  to  Cap- 
tain Thomas  Stirling,  who  came  from  Fort  Pitt  with  one 
hundred  Highlanders  of  the  42nd  British  Regiment,  to  take 


1 84  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

formal  possession.  After  ninety-two  years  of  French  con- 
trol the  white  banner  of  France  was  lowered,  and  the  Red 
Cross  of  St.  George  took  its  place.  St.  Ange,  with  his 
little  remaining  garrison  of  thirty  men,  crossed  the  river 
to  St.  Louis,  where  he  took  service  under  the  King  of  Spain. 
Captain  Stirling  remained  only  until  December  4,  when 
Major  Robert  Farmer,  with  a  detachment  of  the  34th 
British  Foot,  arrived  from  Mobile,  and  assumed  command. 
Others  followed  rapidly  until  the  final  abandonment  of  the 
fort  in  1772  —  Colonel  Edward  Cole,  Colonel  John  Reed, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  John  Wilkins,  and  Captain  Hugh  Lord 
each  commanding  in  turn.  In  the  Spring  of  the  last  men- 
tioned year,  a  great  freshet  tore  away  the  entire  river  wall, 
the  water  rising  to  the  height  of  seven  feet  inside  the  fort, 
which  was  hastily  abandoned,  the  garrison  retiring  to 
Kaskaskia. 

Thus  passed  away  old  Fort  Chartres,  its  memory  still 
locally  preserved  in  the  name  of  the  river  landing  and  ferry 
near  where  it  once  stood.  "  It  is  much  to  be  regretted," 
says  a  writer  well  versed  in  the  subject,  "  that  so  few  of  the 
records  and  official  documents  of  old  Fort  Chartres  have 
been  preserved  to  reveal  to  us  the  story  of  its  various  occu- 
pants in  the  daily  life,  and  of  the  stirring  events,  and  strange 
thrilling  scenes  that  transpired  there." 

On  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  just  without  the  confines  of 
the  city  of  Metropolis,  are  the  ruins  of  Fort  Massac,  the 
third  important  French  fortification  built  in  the  Illinois 
country.  Its  story,  while  involving  no  especial  memories 
of  bloodshed  or  of  war,  is  connected  with  many  stirring 
events,  and  associated  with  numerous  historic  names.  Tra- 
dition marks  the  site  as  having  been  used  by  De  Soto  in  1542, 
and,  whether  this  is  true  or  not,  this  spot  has  in  turn  been 
occupied  by  Spaniards,  French,  English,  Indians,  and 
Americans.  The  old  earthworks,  yet  partially  preserved, 
have  a  brave  tale  to  tell.  Here  Juchereau  traded,  and 


OLD-TIME  FORTS  AND  THEIR  HISTORIES     185 

Father  Mermet  preached;  here  the  southern  Indians  came 
in  their  bark  canoes  to  hear  the  story  of  the  Christ;  here 
the  French,  falling  rapidly  back  in  retreat  from  Fort  du 
Quesne,  halted,  and  St.  Ange  de  Belle  Rive  stepped  every 
pursuing  expedition  down  the  Wabash  and  the  Ohio.  Here 
Tecumseh  hunted;  here  Wilkinson,  Sebastian,  Powers, 
and  others,  with  Spanish,  French,  and  Creole  women  as 
companions,  plotted  to  dismember  the  American  Union; 
here  Aaron  Burr  rested,  and  planned  treason,  here  the  beau- 
tiful wife  of  Blennerhasset  first  learned  of  her  husband's 
connection  with  the  plot,  and  here  Lieutenant  Zebulon  Pike 
once  held  command. 

In  August,  1702,  M.  Juchereau  de  St.  Denis,  with  thirty- 
three  Canadians,  and  accompanied  by  Father  Jean  Mermet 
as  chaplain,  left  Kaskaskia  to  form  a  settlement  and  build 
a  fort  on  the  Ohio.  His  purpose  was  fur-trading  with  the 
southern  Indians,  and  his  license  came  directly  from  Ver- 
sailles. On  this  site  he  erected  a  palisaded  cabin  or  two, 
and  a  storehouse  for  his  goods.  A  short  distance  away,  the 
zealous  priest  built  his  little  mission  chapel  of  logs.  This 
latter  was  called  "  Assumption,"  but  if  Juchereau  ever 
named  his  trading-fort,  all  record  has  been  lost.  In  later 
years  it  was  commonly  referred  to  as  the  "  Old  Cherokee 
Fort."  Two  years  later  the  commandant  died,  and  in  1705 
the  establishment  was  completely  broken  up  through  diffi- 
culty with  surrounding  Indians,  the  French  fleeing  hastily 
to  save  their  lives,  leaving  behind  all  their  stores,  together 
with  thirteen  thousand  buffalo  skins.  Tradition  has  it  that 
this  small  trading-fort  was  reestablished  by  adventurers 
in  1710,  but  remained  unimportant  until  the  French  and 
Indian  War  of  1756. 

It  was  during  this  latter  war  that  the  defeated  French 
came  floating  down  the  Ohio  on  their  retreat  of  nearly  a 
thousand  miles.  Reaching  the  site  of  Assumption,  M. 
Aubry,  who  was  in  command,  halted  and  landed  his 


1 86  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

troops.  Many  among  them  had  been  previously  stationed 
in  the  Illinois  country,  and  knew  it  well.  This  spot  was 
one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  by  land  from  Kaskaskia, 
and  but  little  farther  to  Fort  Chartres.  It  was  four  days' 
journey  to  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois.  And  here  they  pro- 
posed to  stay  on  guard  over  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  thirty- 
six  miles  below.  They  occupied  the  old  site,  throwing  up 
earthworks,  and  erecting  over  it  a  stockade  with  four  bastions, 
upon  which  they  mounted  eight  pieces  of  cannon.  Quarters 
were  furnished  within  for  one  hundred  men.  Henceforth, 
in  French  records,  it  was  known  as  Fort  Massac. 

Four  years  later,  M.  de  Macarty  rebuilt  and  strongly 
fortified  the  place.  In  1763,  by  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of 
Paris,  Massac  was  surrendered  into  the  hands  of  the  English, 
but  the  French  garrison,  although  small  in  numbers,  re- 
mained in  possession  until  the  Spring  of  1765.  The  English, 
during  the  thirteen  years  they  held  control  of  the  Illinois 
country,  never  occupied  the  fort  with  troops.  Had  they 
done  so,  an  important  chapter  of  Western  history  might  have 
been  differently  written,  for  it  was  on  this  unguarded  spot 
that  the  flag  of  the  newly  united  Colonies  was  probably  first 
unfurled  above  Illinois  territory,  and  George  Rogers  Clark 
began  his  daring  march  of  conquest. 

Indeed,  Fort  Massac  was  not  again  held  by  troops  until 
the  United  States  was  threatened  with  trouble  by  both  Spain 
and  France  in  1794,  when  it  was  hastily  rebuilt  and  occupied, 
under  special  orders  from  President  Washington.  Major 
Thomas  Doyle  was  its  first  American  commander,  and  it  re- 
mained a  post  of  some  importance,  the  scene  of  many  stirring 
events,  until  after  the  collapse  of  the  Burr  conspiracy.  In 
1797,  about  thirty  families  were  settled  in  the  neighborhood; 
Captain  Zebulon  Pike  was  in  command,  having  a  garrison 
of  eighty-three  men.  At  different  times  Generals  Anthony 
Wayne  and  James  Wilkinson  occupied  the  fort  as  their 
headquarters.  As  late  as  1812,  it  was  repaired,  being  gar- 


SITE  OF  FORT  GAGE,   FROM   KASKASKIA 


PRESENT    ASPECT    OF    THE    EARTHWORKS    OF    OLD 
FORT    GAGE 


OLD-TIME  FORTS  AND   THEIR  HISTORIES     187 

risoned  at  that  time  by  a  Tennessee  volunteer  regiment. 
In  1855  Governor  Reynolds  visited  Fort  Massac,  and  thus 
describes  its  appearance.  The  outside  walls  were  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-five  feet  square,  and  at  each  angle  bastions 
were  erected.  The  walls  were  palisaded,  with  earth  between 
the  wood.  A  large  well  was  sunk  within  the  fortress,  and 
the  whole  appeared  to  have  been  strong  and  substantial  in 
its  day.  Three  or  four  acres  of  gravel  walks  were  made  on 
the  north  front  of  the  fort,  along  which  the  soldiers  paraded. 
These  walks  were  arranged  in  exact  angles,  and  beautifully 
decorated  with  pebbles  gathered  from  the  river.  The  site 
was  one  of  the  most  lovely  on  La  Belle  Riviere,  commanding 
a  charming  view.  There  were  remains  of  the  unstoned 
well  near  the  centre.  The  ditch  surrounding  the  earthworks 
was  then  some  three  feet  below  the  surface,  while  the  breast- 
works were  raised  about  two  feet  above  the  inner  level. 
The  gravelled  sentry-walk  could  be  plainly  traced.  To-day 
the  site  has  been  transformed  into  a  State  park,  and  the 
Illinois  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  are  restoring 
the  old  fort,  so  far  as  possible,  to  its  former  dimensions  and 
form. 

Other  forts  within  the  State  limits  were  numerous,  but 
not  of  great  historic  importance.  Fort  Dearborn,  on  the 
site  of  Chicago,  has  its  tragic  story  told  in  another  chapter. 
Rebuilt  in  1816,  it  was  garrisoned  for  about  twenty-five  years 
by  United  States  troops.  Fort  Gage,  to  which  the  British 
soldiers  retired  when  the  crumbling  walls  of  Chartres  would 
no  longer  shelter  them,  was  built  on  the  bank  of  the  Kaskas- 
kia.  In  shape,  it  was  an  oblong  parallelogram,  280  by  251 
feet,  constructed  of  large  squared  timbers,  built  upon  earth- 
work. It  was  never  heavily  garrisoned,  the  occupants  in 
1772  consisting  of  one  officer  and  twenty  soldiers.  In  the 
village  of  Kaskaskia  at  this  time  were  two  small  companies 
of  well-disciplined  French  militia.  In  1778,  when  Clark 
reached  Fort  Gage,  there  was  not  a  British  soldier  on  duty, 


1 88  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  a  Frenchman,  M.  Rocheblave,  was  in  command.  Fort 
Clark  was  erected  in  1813  on  the  present  site  of  Peoria, 
about  where  the  Rock  Island  depot  now  stands,  and  gave 
name  to  the  place  for  several  years.  It  was  a  strong  palisade 
structure  of  logs,  similar  in  form  to  many  others,  although 
larger  and  mounting  cannon,  and  was  garrisoned  by  both 
rangers  and  United  States  troops,  and  successfully  sustained 
one  severe  Indian  attack.  Fort  Armstrong  was  erected 
upon  a  rocky  bluff  at  the  lower  extremity  of  Rock  Island, 
in  1816,  and  from  its  situation  was  a  very  conspicuous  object 
to  travellers  on  the  Mississippi.  It  was  garrisoned  by  United 
States  troops,  and  attained  considerable  prominence  during 
the  Black  Hawk  War,  but  was  never  the  scene  of  any  historic 
events  of  importance. 

In  1811,  great  numbers  of  block-house  forts  were  built, 
extending  from  the  Illinois  River  to  the  Kaskaskia,  thence 
across  to  about  the  present  town  of  Equality,  following  up 
the  Ohio  and  the  Wabash,  thus  protecting  nearly  all  existing 
settlements.  Among  the  more  important  of  these  may  be 
mentioned,  one  on  the  site  of  Carlyle;  one  just  above 
the  town  of  Aviston,  known  as  Journey's  Fort;  two 
on  the  east  side  of  Shoal  Creek,  called  Hill's  and  Jones's 
Forts;  one  a  few  miles  southeast  of  the  present  town  of  Leb- 
anon, on  the  west  side  of  Looking-glass  Prairie,  known  as 
Chambers's  Fort  ;  on  the  Kaskaskia  River  were  Middleton's 
and  Goring's  Forts;  one  on  Doza  Creek,  known  as  Nat  Hill's; 
two  in  the  Jourdan  set/clement,  eastern  part  of  Franklin 
County,  on  the  road  to  the  salt  works  ;  one  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Illinois  River  ;  while  a  little  later,  John  Campbell,  a 
United  States  officer,  erected  a  small  block-house  nineteen 
miles  up  the  Illinois,  on  its  west  bank.  More  pretentious 
military  stations  were  established  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
Missouri,  and  on  Silver  Creek,  near  Troy.  But  the  main 
depot  was  built  a  mile  and  a  half  northwest  of  the  present 
Edwardsville,  and  called  Camp  Russell. 


OLD-TIME  FORTS  AND  THEIR  HISTORIES     189 

Most  of  these  were  very  simple,  temporary  affairs,  con- 
sisting of  a  single  house  of  a  story  and  a  half,  or  occasionally 
two  stories,  built  of  logs,  with  the  corners  closely  trimmed  to 
prevent  scaling.  The  walls  below  were  provided  with  loop- 
holes ;  the  door  was  made  of  thick  puncheons,  and  strongly 
barred  on  the  inside.  The  upper  story  usually  projected 
over  the  lower  three  or  four  feet,  with  loopholes  through  the 
floor.  These  were  merely  single-family  forts,  and  were  very 
numerous.  The  stockade  forts,  garrisoned  by  rangers, 
consisted  of  four  block-houses,  such  as  described  above,  or 
larger,  placed  one  at  each  corner  of  a  square  piece  of  ground, 
of  dimensions  ample  enough  to  accommodate  all  the  white 
residents  of  the  neighborhood.  The  intervening  space  was 
filled  in  with  timbers,  or  logs,  set  firmly  on  end  in  the  ground 
and  extending  upward  twelve  to  fifteen  feet.  This  formed 
the  stockade,  and  along  it  upon  the  inside  was  a  raised 
platform  for  riflemen  to  stand  upon.  Loopholes  cut  in  the 
projecting  walls  of  the  corner  block-houses  commanded  the 
entire  stockade  from  without.  Within,  cabins  were  erected 
for  the  settlers,  and  a  well  was  dug,  unless  the  site  selected 
contained  a  spring.  Usually  there  were  two  heavy  entrances, 
large  enough  to  admit  teams,  and  strongly  barred.  In  times 
of  special  peril,  horses  and  cattle  were  driven  within  the 
enclosure.  If  the  fort  stood  in  the  woods,  the  trees  were 
cleared  away  on  every  side,  so  as  to  give  an  open  firing-space 
for  the  defence. 

The  most  notable,  as  well  as  the  largest,  strongest,  and 
best  equipped  of  these  stockade  forts,  was  Camp  Russell, 
established  early  in  1812,  near  Edwardsville,  then  the  extreme 
northern  frontier.  The  old  cannon  of  Louis  XIV,  which, 
for  many  years,  had  done  service  at  Fort  Chartres,  were 
taken  there  and  mounted  on  the  walls,  adding  little  to  the 
defensive  strength,  but  much  to  military  appearance,  and 
being  especially  important  on  days  of  festivity,  or  dress 
parade.  This  stockade  was  made  the  main  depot  for  mill- 


i9o  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

tary  stores,  and  became  a  general  rendezvous  for  volunteers, 
rangers,  and  regulars,  while  from  here  departed  the  various 
expeditions  northward  into  the  Indian  country.  The  only 
United  States  regulars,  however,  camping  here  during  the 
war  were  a  small  company  under  command  of  Captain  Ram- 
sey. It  was  here  that  Governor  Edwards  established  his 
headquarters,  and  gathered  about  him  the  beauty  and  chiv- 
alry of  the  Illinois  country.  Here  were  much  entertaining, 
many  brilliant  balls  and  glittering  dress  parades,  for  the 
Governor  dearly  loved  display,  and  presided  with  courtly 
grace  and  stately  dignity  over  scenes  of  frontier  merry- 
making and  military  pomp. 

At  various  periods  in  its  earlier  history,  defences  were 
erected  in  the  Illinois  territory  that  might  be  mentioned  in 
this  connection.  During  the  short-lived  Black  Hawk  War 
numerous  temporary  forts  were  built  in  the  northwestern 
portion  of  the  State,  and  held  by  parties  of  volunteers,  such 
as  Fort  Hamilton  in  Stephenson  County,  Fort  Paine  in  Du 
Page,  Fort  Beags  in  Will,  and  Gray's  Fort  in  Kane,  and 
Apple  River  Fort  in  Jo  Daviess;  but  these  were  of  small 
historical  interest.  Traders  also,  pushing  forward  ahead 
of  civilization,  erected  numerous  defensive  stockades, 
which  later  became  centres  of  influence,  and  occasionally 
of  military  importance.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned, 
La  Sallier's  Trading  Post  on  Rock  River  in  Lee  County, 
established  in  1822,  Hubbard's  in  Iroquois  in  1822,  and  one 
unnamed  in  northern  Knox  County,  established  in  1828. 
Shull  had  such  a  trading-fort  on  the  Mississippi  near  Galena 
as  early  as  1819.  All  of  these  possess  local  interest,  and 
about  them  doubtless  hover  stones  of  adventure  in  those 
early  days  of  danger  worthy  of  preservation.  Illinois  has 
been  a  continuous  battle-ground,  and  every  fort  evidenced 
a  stern  advance  toward  civilization  and  peace  within  her 
borders.  They  were  the  footprints  of  her  daring  pioneers. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE   FOOTSTEPS   OF   GEORGE  ROGERS   CLARK 

IN  June,  1778,  the  entire  country  of  the  Illinois  was  under 
English  control,  as  it  had  practically  been  since  the 
Treaty  of  Paris,  in  1763.  But  to  the  eastward  the  strug- 
gle of  the  United  Colonies  for  independence  had  caused  the 
steady  draining  of  troops  from  this  far  frontier,  so  that  by 
this  date  not  a  British  regular  remained  on  guard  along  the 
Mississippi  valley.  The  scattered  forts,  with  their  small 
stores  of  military  equipment,  were  left  to  the  uncertain 
protection  of  French  militia,  the  depth  of  whose  allegiance 
to  England's  interests  was  extremely  doubtful.  It  was  the 
time  to  strike  on  behalf  of  the  Colonies  for  all  this  great  ex- 
panse of  western  territory,  and  fortunately  the  leader  for 
just  such  an  emergency  had  discovered  means  for  action. 

George  Rogers  Clark,  born  of  a  good  Virginia  family, 
was  at  this  time  twenty-six  years  of  age.  His  education  was 
fair,  but  from  childhood  he  had  been  a  restless  rover  of  the 
woods.  Six  feet  in  height,  stoutly  built,  with  red  hair  and 
black  penetrating  eyes,  he  was  courageous  to  audacity,  but  of 
quick  temper.  In  many  ways  Clark  early  became  a  marked 
character  along  the  Kentucky  frontier  —  "  a  land  of  heroes 
and  desperadoes,  saints  and  sinners."  He  had  served  in  the 
Dunmore  war  as  a  boy,  and  later  won  rank  with  Boone, 
Kenton,  Logan,  and  other  famous  bordermen  in  Indian  fight- 
ing. He  had  taken  part  with  the  revolutionary  forces  in 
the  East,  but  had  early  conceived  the  importance  of  wresting 
the  territory  bordering  upon  the  Ohio  from  British  control. 
Presenting  this  project  to  Virginia  officials,  including  his  per- 
sonal friend,  Patrick  Henry,  and  overcoming  many  obstacles, 

191 


I92  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

he  at  last,  heading  a  little  party  of  determined  frontiersmen 
who  had  volunteered  for  the  desperate  service,  floated  down 
the  Ohio,  and  found  landing  on  Illinois  soil  just  above  old 
deserted  Fort  Massac.  Altogether,  he  had  with  him  for  this 
daring  enterprise  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  followers.  It 
was  a  motley  gathering.  There  was  no  attempt  at  military 
dress,  the  officers  being  in  nowise  distinguished  from  the  men 
by  their  apparel.  Personal  prowess  alone  determined  the 
permanency  of  command.  They  were  all  alike  volunteers, 
recruited  from  along  the  frontiers  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky. 
On  their  feet  were  moccasins;  the  majority  wore  loose, 
thin  trousers  of  homespun  or  buckskin,  having  a  fringe  of 
leather  thongs  down  the  outer  seam  of  each  leg;  some  were 
attired  only  in  leggings  of  leather,  and  were  otherwise  as 
bare  of  knee  and  thigh  as  a  Highland  clansman.  Common 
to  all  was  the  fringed  buckskin  hunting-shirt,  a  garment  hang- 
ing loosely  down  from  neck  to  knee,  and  girded  about  the  waist 
by  a  broad  belt,  from  which  was  suspended  tomahawk  and 
scalping-knife.  On  one  hip  hung  the  powder-horn,  on  the 
other  a  provision  pouch.  A  home-made  hat,  or  cap  of  fox 
or  squirrel  skin,  having  the  tail  dangling  behind,  protected 
the  head,  while  in  the  hand  was  held  the  rudely  constructed 
flint-lock  rifle,  a  long  clumsy  appearing  weapon,  but  deadly 
enough  in  the  hands  of  such  cool,  expert  marksmen,  trained 
to  rely  upon  it  in  time  of  need.  Of  these  men  Clark  held  the 
complete  confidence,  binding  them  to  him  by  strong  personal 
influence,  unquestioned  daring,  and  cool  self-control.  Per- 
haps no  other  man  on  the  border  could  at  that  time  have 
governed  them  as  completely  as  did  he.  His  force  at  the 
commencement  of  the  expedition  was  divided  into  four 
companies,  commanded  by  Captains  John  Montgomery, 
Joseph  Bowman,  Leonard  Helms,  and  William  Harrod. 
They  first  stepped  on  Illinois  soil  at  the  mouth  of  Massac 
Creek,  a  mile  above  the  old  fort,  then  without  occupants, 
June  30,  1778.  It  is  most  probable  this  was  the  first  time 


FOOTSTEPS  OF  GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK       193 

the  flag  of  the  United  States  was  ever  unrolled  so  far  in  the 
West,  as  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  Clark  carried  such 
a  banner,  just  adopted,  with  him  on  his  expedition. 

With  no  possibility  of  receiving  further  reinforcement, 
a  thousand  miles  of  trackless  wilderness  stretching  between 
them  and  their  base  of  supplies,  uncertain  regarding  the 
defences  fronting  them,  these  undaunted  men  of  the  border 
determined  on  pushing  boldly  forward  across  unknown 
country,  trusting  to  make  surprise  accomplish  the  work  of 
numbers.  Meeting  by  chance,  when  but  a  few  miles  from 
the  river,  a  small  party  of  Kentucky  hunters,  the  latter  were 
easily  induced  to  act  as  guides  for  their  countrymen,  and 
with  one  John  Saunders  in  advance,  the  little  army  set  forth 
on  its  daring  and  toilsome  march.  It  was  one  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  as  the  crow  flies,  from  Massac  to  Kaskaskia. 
The  country  to  be  traversed  was  marked  by  no  signs  of  guid- 
ance save  a  few  dim,  winding  Indian  trails,  while  the  route 
selected  led  through  swamps,  amid  the  low  mountains  of  the 
Ozarks,  and  across  level  plains  beyond.  Their  success 
depended  altogether  upon  swiftness  and  secrecy  ;  but  on 
the  third  day  of  travel,  while  within  the  present  limits  of 
Williamson  County,  the  bewildered  guide  lost  his  way. 
Much  confusion  resulted,  the  exasperated  bordermen  threat- 
ening him  with  death,  but  fortunately  in  time  to  save 
himself  from  such  fate,  Saunders  recognized  a  distant 
point  of  timber,  and  from  there  led  directly  forward  to 
Kaskaskia. 

On  the  afternoon  of  July  4,  with  their  garments  worn  and 
soiled,  and  their  cheeks  covered  by  beards  of  three  weeks' 
growth,  the  invaders  cautiously  stole  down  into  the  Kaskaskia 
River  valley,  and  concealed  themselves  along  the  east  bank, 
in  a  thick  wood,  to  wait  for  the  coming  of  night.  They  were 
at  this  time  about  three  miles  above  the  town,  which  was 
situated  on  the  opposite  shore.  Reconnoitring  parties 
were  cautiously  despatched,  through  the  early  dusk,  who 


1 94  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

learned  something  regarding  the  situation  in  the  village,  and 
fortunately  secured  sufficient  boats  with  which  to  transport 
the  command  across  the  stream.  Clark's  plan  of  attack  was 
extremely  daring  and  simple.  His  small  force  was  divided 
into  three  parties  consisting  of  about  fifty  men  each.  Two  of 
these  were  directed  to  cross  the  river  and  take  position  oppo- 
site different  portions  of  the  town,  moving  forward  as  silently 
as  possible  through  the  darkness,  guarding  against  discovery. 
The  third,  under  his  own  immediate  command,  was  to  ad- 
vance directly  down  the  east  bank,  climb  the  steep  bluff, 
and  dash  in  upon  Fort  Gage.  He  was  to  make  the  first 
attack  ;  the  others  being  expected  to  await  his  signal  of 
success  before  charging  the  town. 

Lovers  of  romance  have  woven  many  an  interesting 
legend  about  the  stirring  events  of  that  dark  night,  most  of 
them  melodramatic  and  improbable. 

"  We  have  been  told,"  writes  Dr.  Thwaites,  in  his  exhaustive 
essay,  "  that,  as  Clark  and  his  men  lay  there  by  the  postern 
gate,  they  could  hear  the  sounds  of  French  fiddles  squeaking  a 
quadrille,  and  now  and  then  gay  shouts  of  laughter.  The  officers 
of  the  post  were,  it  is  related,  giving  a  ball  to  the  inhabitants 
in  the  large  assembly  room  with  its  puncheon  floor.  The  out- 
lying houses  were  deserted.  Men  and  women,  villagers  and 
garrison,  Indians  and  coureurs  de  bols^  were,  without  regard  to  rank 
or  race,  crowded  into  the  hall,  heeding  nothing  save  the  dance. 
Even  the  sentinels  had  deserted  their  posts  to  join  in  the  festivities, 
and  Kaskaskia,  a  victim  to  the  irrepressible  gayety  of  the  French, 
was  unguarded.  Leaving  his  men  at  the  gate,  says  the  story- 
teller, Clark,  alone  with  his  guide,  strode  across  the  parade,  and 
leaning  against  the  doorpost,  with  folded  arms,  watched  the  gay 
scene  —  a  patch  of  light  and  color  in  the  heart  of  the  gloomy 
wilderness.  As  he  calmly  stood  there,  an  unbidden  guest,  an 
Indian,  lying  curled  in  his  blanket  on  the  entry  floor,  started  and 
gazed  intently  upon  him.  Another  moment,  the  savage  sprang  to 
his  feet  and  sounded  the  war-whoop.  In  the  midst  of  the  general 
consternation,  Rocheblave,  and  his  brother  officers,  hurried  to  the 


FOOTSTEPS  OF  GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK       195 

door,  but  Clark,  unmoved,  bade  them  go  on  with  the  dance,  but  be 
pleased  to  remember  that  they  were  now  holding  revelry  under  the 
banner  of  Virginia,  and  not  that  of  Great  Britain." 

The  truth,  while  smacking  less  of  romance,  is  scarcely 
less  stirring,  when  we  consider  the  isolation  of  these  gallant 
men,  and  their  utter  uncertainty  regarding  the  force  opposing 
them.  Clark's  immediate  party,  which  numbered  scarcely 
more  than  a  dozen,  lay,  during  the  early  evening,  under  the 
river  bank,  where  they  were  barked  at  by  dogs.  The  scouts 
pressing  up  the  steep  hill  and  finding  the  fort  gate  open, 
those  behind  pushed  on  through  the  darkness  to  Roche- 
blave's  house,  and  succeeded  in  capturing  that  surprised 
commandant  in  an  upper  room.  Hauling  him  downstairs, 
they  gave  the  signal  for  general  attack.  Yelling  like  mad, 
the  united  bordermen  surged  through  the  fort,  in  which 
they  found  not  a  single  soldier  to  oppose  them,  and  up  and 
down  the  streets  of  startled  Kaskaskia,  and  within  fifteen 
minutes  were  in  full  possession  without  the  necessity  of 
firing  a  gun.  Armed  with  the  knowledge  —  which  had 
just  reached  this  country  before  he  left  the  East  —  that 
France  was  already  in  open  allegiance  with  the  American 
Colonies,  Clark  made  judicious  use  of  this  important  fact 
to  win  to  himself  the  confidence  of  the  French  inhabitants. 
His  moderation  and  kindness  toward  them  also  tended  to 
immediately  restore  quietness.  Their  spirits  rose  when 
they  learned  that  instead  of  being  made  slaves  by  these 
bloodthirsty  Virginians,  the  "  long  knives  "  they  had  been 
taught  so  long  to  fear,  they  were,  upon  taking  an  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  Republic,  to  be  allowed  to  go  at  their  pleas- 
ure, and  meet  in  their  little  church  as  of  old.  All  the  Creoles, 
Clark  reported,  took  the  oath  of  loyalty,  as  thus  prescribed, 
but  Commandant  Rocheblave  had  been  exceedingly  violent 
and  insulting  in  language,  and  for  punishment  was  sent  to 
Virginia  as  a  prisoner,  and  his  slaves  sold,  the  money  thus 
obtained  being  divided  among  his  riflemen. 


196  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

A  small  party,  accompanied  by  a  few  eager  French  vol- 
unteers under  command  of  Captain  Bowman,  promptly 
took  possession  of  Cahokia,  sixty  miles  north,  making  the 
trip  on  horseback.  Meanwhile  Father  Pierre  Gibault,  the 
Kaskaskia  priest,  now  thoroughly  devoted  to  American  in- 
terests, was  despatched  overland  to  Vincennes,  to  learn  some- 
thing of  the  situation  at  that  post,  and  returning  about  August, 
reported  to  Clark  that  through  his  influence  the  American 
flag  had  been  hoisted  above  that  fort,  the  small  squad  of 
British  soldiers  in  possession  deeming  it  safer  to  withdraw 
before  the  threatened  uprising  of  the  French  inhabitants, 
and  fearing  the  approach  of  Clark  and  his  "  long  knives."" 
Captain  Helm  was  at  once  sent  to  this  post  to  assume  com- 
mand of  the  French  militia,  taking  with  him  as  companion 
a  single  American  by  the  name  of  Henry. 

Successful  as  Clark  had  thus  far  been  in  carrying  out 
all  his  plans,  he  was  still  in  a  most  perilous  position.  His 
little  band  stood  utterly  alone  in  the  heart  of  an  immense 
wilderness.  French  loyalty  to  the  new  Republic  was  at  best 
doubtful,  while  the  surrounding  Indian  tribes  were  restless, 
and  easily  swayed  by  either  British  or  French  adventurers. 
West  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Spanish  influence  prevailed, 
and  must  be  kept  friendly  to  insure  his  future  safety  and 
success.  His  force  was  far  too  insignificant  for  any  serious 
thought  of  armed  conquest,  or  to  enable  him  to  carry  out 
his  original  project  of  a  quick  military  advance  against  the 
important  British  post  at  Detroit,  yet  while  that  remained 
in  English  hands,  all  he  had  yet  accomplished  was  in  peril. 
Fortunately  in  this  emergency  Clark  proved  himself  diplo- 
mat as  well  as  soldier,  winning  the  interest  of  the  Spanish 
officials,  the  friendship  of  surrounding  Indian  tribes,  and 
cementing  more  firmly  the  confidence  of  the  French  inhab- 
itants to  his  cause.  So  passed  the  busy  days  of  that  Summer 
and  Fall,  the  American  commander  strengthening  his  posi- 
tion in  every  possible  way,  while  despatching  urgent  mes- 


FOOTSTEPS  OF  GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK       197 

sages  eastward  begging  for  reinforcements  to  aid  him  in 
carrying  forward  his  further  plans  of  conquest. 

Meanwhile,  General  Hamilton,  the  British  commander 
at  Detroit,  was  far  from  being  idle.  Seeking  for  allies  among 
those  Indian  tribes  already  pledged  to  the  English  service, 
he  gathered  together  a  formidable  war  party  for  the  purpose 
of  re-garrisoning  Vincennes,  and  for  the  reestablishment  of 
British  influence  throughout  the  Illinois  country.  By  the 
seventh  of  October  he  had  departed  in  person  for  the  scene 
of  action,  accompanied  by  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven 
whites,  largely  Creole  volunteers,  and  about  three  hundred 
Indians,  of  various  tribes.  Because  of  storms  and  icy  streams 
they  were  seventy-one  days  in  reaching  Vincennes.  Here 
Captain  Helm  and  his  single  American  soldier  attempted 
resistance,  but  on  the  prompt  desertion  of  the  French  militia 
finally  surrendered  after  obtaining  "  all  the  honors  of  war." 

The  news  of  this  easy  recapture  of  Fort  Sackville,  and 
the  town  of  Vincennes,  which  it  commanded  by  its  guns, 
did  not  reach  Clark  on  the  distant  Kaskaskia  until  fully  a 
month  later.  The  entire  Illinois  country  was  soon  plunged 
into  wild  alarm  by  the  persistently  circulated  rumors  of 
British  advance,  aggravated  by  raiding  parties  of  Indians, 
incited  by  Hamilton.  Clark's  personality  alone  sufficed 
to  hold  his  motley  following  firm,  and  gradually  confidence 
was  restored  to  the  excitable  French,  while  he  waited  with 
what  patience  he  could  command  for  more  definite  infor- 
mation regarding  the  exact  situation  on  the  distant  banks 
of  the  Wabash.  This  did  not  reach  him  until  the  evening 
of  January  29,  when  Colonel  Francis  Vigo,  a  Spanish  mer- 
chant, just  arrived  from  Vincennes,  furnished  him  with 
complete  details  as  to  Hamilton's  force  and  plans,  informing 
him  that  all  but  about  eighty  of  the  British  force,  with  one 
hundred  Indians,  had  returned  to  Detroit,  while  the  com- 
mander was  busily  planning  a  campaign  for  the  coming 
Spring. 


198  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Above  all  else,  Clark  was  a  man  of  action,  and  in  this 
emergency  realized  at  once  that  any  further  hesitation  meant 
defeat.  Desperate  as  the  venture  then  appeared,  he  decided 
to  attack  the  British  at  once,  rather  than  await  any  invasion 
on  their  part.  Hastily  he  had  a  large  bateau,  which  was 
named  "The  Willing,"  constructed,  armed  it  with  two 
four-pounders,  and  four  large  swivel  guns,  manned  it 
with  a  crew  of  forty  volunteers,  largely  French  Creoles, 
under  Lieutenant  Rogers,  and  on  the  evening  of  February 
4  despatched  this  rude  vessel  down  the  Mississippi  with 
orders  to  patrol  the  Ohio  and  ascend  the  Wabash  as  far 
as  possible,  so  as  to  cooperate  with  his  land  force.  Then  he 
turned  energetically  to  the  organization  of  this  overland 
expedition.  Persuaded  by  the  enthusiastic  Creole  girls, 
the  principal  young  men  of  the  section  flocked  to  the  call  of 
the  tall  Virginian.  On  the  very  day  following  the  departure 
of  "  The  Willing "  southward,  he  marched  out  of  wildly 
cheering  Kaskaskia,  at  the  head  of  his  little  volunteer  army 
of  one  hundred  and  seventy  bold  fellows,  both  American 
and  French,  their  flags  fluttering,  and  their  drums  beating 
merrily. 

Scarcely  in  the  pages  of  manly  endeavor  will  be  found 
any  record  of  a  more  truly  desperate  venture  than  this  mid- 
winter march  across  the  untracked  wilderness  to  battle 
against  overwhelming  odds.  The  distance  to  be  covered 
by  these  invaders  was  some  two  hundred  and  thirty  miles, 
across  a  little-known  country  beautified  by  alternating  lakes, 
rivers,  groves,  and  prairies.  In  Summertime  it  would  have 
been  a  continuous  scene  of  beauty  and  peace,  while  in  the 
cold  of  Winter  the  frozen  plains  and  ice-bridged  streams 
would  have  offered  comparatively  easy  travelling.  But 
this  was  February;  the  temperature  was  that  of  early  Spring, 
and  great  freshets  sweeping  down  the  broad  valleys  had 
completely  inundated  all  the  lowland.  The  ground  under 
foot  became  more  sodden  as  they  advanced;  progress  was 


GEORGE    ROGERS    CLARK 

FROM    A    COPY    BY    EDWARDS    OF    JARVIs's    PORTRAIT;    THE    COPY    BEING 
IN    POSSESSION    OF    THE    WISCONSIN    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY 


FOOTSTEPS  OF  GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK        199 

necessarily  slow;  hardships  increased.  The  little  band  were 
without  tents  or  protection  of  any  kind,  the  floods  had 
driven  away  the  expected  game  from  along  the  route  of 
march,  and  Clark  and  his  officers  were  soon  at  their  wits' 
end  to  devise  methods  for  keeping  up  the  flagging  spirits 
of  their  wearied,  hungry  men.  The  first  week  passed  amid 
constantly  increasing  toil  and  exposure.  At  the  end  of  it, 
they  arrived  at  the  "  drowned  lands  "  of  the  Wabash,  a 
broad  stretch  of  low,  level  country,  lying  entirely  submerged, 
and  extending  almost  the  entire  distance  from  the  valley  of 
the  Little  Wabash  to  Vincennes.  The  opposite  banks  of 
this  stream  were  five  miles  apart,  with  water  sweeping  tu- 
multuously  down,  and  in  no  place  less  than  three  feet  deep. 
Here,  drenched  by  the  constant  rain,  hungry,  and  becoming 
somewhat  disheartened  before  such  obstacles,  these  men, 
encouraged  by  their  leaders,  managed  to  construct  a  rude 
raft,  or  flat-boat,  and  ferried  their  baggage  across  to  the 
opposite  shore,  which  was  distinguished  merely  by  a  fringe 
of  trees.  The  stronger  among  them  waded  and  swam  across, 
aided  by  the  few  horses  in  the  party.  Occasionally  sinking 
in  the  mud  and  water  as  high  as  their  shoulders,  the  toiling 
soldiers  were  cheered  to  new  exertions  by  every  device 
which  the  officers  could  conjure  up.  An  Irish  drummer, 
of  exceedingly  small  stature,  but  with  rare  talent  as  a 
singer  of  comic  songs,  was  hoisted  on  the  head  of  the  tallest 
man  in  the  company,  and  thus  led  the  way,  stirring  those 
behind  with  his  wit  and  music. 

Almost  worn  out  by  fatigue,  hunger,  and  exposure,  the 
heroic,  struggling  band  attained  to  the  banks  of  the  Embarras 
River  on  the  twelfth  day  out  from  Kaskaskia.  They  were 
now  so  close  to  Vincennes  that  they  dare  not  discharge  their 
guns  for  fear  of  alarming  the  unsuspecting  garrison,  whom 
they  yet  hoped  to  surprise.  The  Embarras  was  a  raging 
flood,  utterly  impassable.  The  very  best  they  could  do 
was  to  find  a  small  swampy  hillock  in  the  midst  of  the 


200  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

tumultuous  waters.  Here  amid  a  constant  drizzle  soaking 
them  to  the  skin,  they  huddled  closely  together  for  the  night, 
shivering  from  cold,  and  having  neither  food  nor  fire  with 
which  to  warm  themselves.  The  next  morning  they  were 
aroused  from  their  discomfort  by  the  sound  of  the  sunrise 
gun  at  Vincennes,  then  scarcely  nine  miles  away.  But  it 
boomed  to  their  ears  across  a  wide  and  desolate  waste  of 
waters.  The  dismal  surroundings,  coupled  with  ever  in- 
creasing hardship  and  danger,  greatly  depressed  the  French 
volunteers,  but  the  Americans  remained  undaunted.  They 
remained  in  camp  that  day,  but  despatched  a  detail  on  a 
rudely  constructed  raft,  in  an  endeavor  to  either  steal  boats 
from  near  the  town,  or  open  communication  with  their  own 
bateau.  Two  days  later,  these  returned  unsuccessful  in 
their  endeavors.  As  Captain  Bowman  wrote,  "  There  was 
not  one  foot  of  dry  land  to  be  found.  No  provisions  of  any 
sort  now  for  two  days."  On  February  20,  a  boat  was 
brought  in  containing  five  Frenchmen  belonging  to  Vin- 
cennes. These  villagers  reported  to  Clark,  greatly  to  his 
encouragement,  that  Hamilton  and  his  men  had  no  suspicion 
of  any  attack  being  threatened,  and  that  the  native  inhab- 
itants of  Vincennes  were  all  well-disposed  toward  the  Amer- 
ican cause. 

The  twenty-first  it  rained  violently  all  day,  but  the  des- 
perate invaders  felt  that  they  could  remain  quiet  no  longer. 
Every  moment  of  delay  increased  the  peril  of  discovery. 
Facing  the  steady  downpour  at  daybreak,  the  little  band 
was  safely  ferried  on  rude  rafts,  aided  by  a  few  canoes,  across 
the  raging  waters  to  the  eastern  side  of  the  Wabash  on  which 
lay  Vincennes.  There  was  no  river  bank  to  be  found  in  all 
that  desolation  of  down-pouring  flood,  and  their  slow  advance 
was  made  in  the  face  of  imminent  peril.  All  around  them 
extended  a  vast  swamp,  without  a  spot  of  dry  land  appear- 
ing for  leagues  above  its  surface.  The  icy  water  oftentimes 
rose  to  the  chins  of  the  struggling  soldiers,  yet  they  pushed 


FOOTSTEPS  OF  GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK       201 

resolutely  forward,  the  stronger  wading,  their  rifles  held 
high  above  their  heads,  while  the  weaker  and  more  famished 
were  borne  in  the  few  canoes.  No  nobler  incident  of  heroic 
toil  and  self-sacrifice  is  recorded  in  American  history.  With 
infinite  labor  and  suffering  scarcely  three  miles  of  that  awful 
journey  toward  battle  had  been  completed  when  darkness 
again  overtook  them,  and  they  were  obliged  to  seek  refuge 
for  another  night.  Fortunately  at  that  critical  moment  a 
little  boggy  island  was  discovered  lifting  its  water-soaked 
surface  above  the  stream,  and  there,  for  their  seventh  night 
of  suffering  and  exposure,  within  sound  of  the  evening  and 
morning  guns  of  the  fort,  those  men  of  iron  slept,  hungry, 
and  in  clothes  sopping  wet. 

They  awoke  once  more  with  the  dawn  to  confront  the 
same  deadly  prospect.  Without  food  to  afford  strength  for 
the  undertaking,  the  gallant  fellows  plunged  into  the  freezing 
flood,  moving  forward  in  Indian  file,  the  strongest  man  of 
each  company  leading  the  way.  Occasionally  some  brave 
heart  would  start  a  song,  which  others  would  take  up  in  the 
straggling  column  behind,  and  thus  all  through  those  hours 
of  misery  they  stumbled  blindly  on,  determined  still  to  find 
and  grapple  with  the  enemy.  That  night  they  were  within 
six  miles  of  Vincennes,  their  camping-spot  a  maple  grove  on 
a  hillock.  It  was  bitterly  cold  ;  when  the  reluctant  morning 
dawned,  ice  half  an  inch  thick  covered  the  smooth  water, 
while  the  sodden  clothing  of  the  men  was  frozen  stiff.  But  the 
sun  breaking  through  the  lowering  clouds  promised  a  bright 
day,  and  brought  with  it  renewed  courage.  Clark,  facing 
his  famishing,  half-frozen  men,  pledged  his  word  that  the 
next  night  should  find  them  within  striking  distance  of  the 
foe,  and  then,  dashing  into  the  water  at  the  head  of  the  col- 
umn, sternly  ordered  his  officers  to  close  up  the  rear,  and 
shoot  down  any  man  who  refused  to  follow  him. 

The  road  forward  grew  constantly  more  difficult,  while  the 
increasing  weakness  of  the  men  made  the  advance  desperately 


202  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

slow.  The  lowland,  now  known  as  Horseshoe  Plain,  across 
which  they  struggled,  had  been  transformed  by  the  constant 
downpour  of  weeks  into  a  shallow  lake  fully  four  miles 
wide.  Not  the  slightest  point  of  land  uplifted  above  the 
water,  but  far  away  a  distant  fringe  of  woods  fortunately  hid 
their  movements  from  sight  of  both  the  town  and  the  fort. 
Near  the  centre  of  this  lake,  the  prolonged  hardships  of  that 
toilsome  struggle  began  to  tell  most  seriously.  Man  after 
man  fell  in  the  ranks  exhausted,  and  the  few  canoes  they 
possessed  were  paddled  frantically  back  and  forth  in  an  en- 
deavor to  save  the  poor  fellows  from  drowning.  Soldier 
clung  to  soldier  in  support,  staggering  forward  scarcely  able 
to  keep  his  feet,  while  the  lion-hearted  Clark  urged,  com- 
manded, implored  them  to  renewed  exertion.  The  water 
deepened  until  it  reached  the  shoulders  of  the  tallest,  and 
when  finally  the  despairing,  suffering  column  attained  to 
the  edge  of  an  island  grove,  the  men  flung  themselves  sobbing 
on  the  sodden  ground,  so  thoroughly  exhausted  that  to  rally 
them  was  almost  impossible.  But  in  this  moment  of  utter- 
despair,  a  little  ray  of  hope  came  as  encouragement.  From 
a  party  of  Indian  women  who  chanced  to  pass  in  a  canoe, 
some  food  was  obtained.  Fires  were  lighted,  the  weakest 
given  broth,  and  thus  all  were  inspired  to  renewed  determi- 
nation. 

But  at  the  best  it  would  be  hard  to  conceive  of  a  situation 
more  utterly  desperate,  more  apparently  hopeless.  The 
merest  handful  of  weakened,  famished  men,  fronting  an  un- 
known but  superior  force,  pressing  sternly  on  to  attack  a 
strongly  garrisoned  fort  in  the  very  heart  of  the  enemy's 
country,  without  a  single  piece  of  artillery,  their  scanty  rifle 
ammunition  wet  and  useless,  —  it  was  a  scene  of  fact  stranger 
than  any  fiction  ever  penned.  From  where  they  now  rested, 
breathless  and  shivering  from  cold,  they  could  distinguish, 
only  two  miles  away,  through  scattered  woods,  and  across 
yet  another  wide  lake,  the  distant  log  houses  of  the  little  town. 


FOOTSTEPS  OF  GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK       203 

A  scouting  party  brought  in  a  Creole  who  was  discovered 
hunting  ducks  in  the  swamp,  and  he  furnished  them  with 
both  food  and  bad  news.  Hamilton  and  his  British  garri- 
son were  still  unconscious  of  their  approach,  but  two  hundred 
additional  Indian  allies  had  just  arrived  at  Fort  Sackville. 
Those  staggering,  almost  unarmed,  bordermen  realized  now 
that  immediately  before  them,  entrenched,  provisioned, 
thoroughly  equipped  with  small  arms  and  cannon,  there 
awaited  a  force  —  British,  French,  and  Indian  —  fully  four 
times  their  own.  It  was  a  moment  when  any  but  the  most 
heroic  souls  would  have  quailed  in  utter  despair.  But  Clark 
was  emphatically  the  man  for  such  an  emergency,  and  at 
his  back  that  day  were  the  men  of  iron  to  support  him  in 
desperate  deed.  His  simple  plan  was  that  of  audacity  and 
daring,  the  usual  strategy  of  the  border.  Despatching  the 
captured  Creole  directly  to  his  own  people  of  the  town  bear- 
ing a  letter,  requesting  their  secrecy  and  assistance,  he  pre- 
pared at  once  to  impress  them  with  his  power  and  ability  to 
make  good  his  threats  of  vengeance  if  they  failed  him.  His 
camp,  while  in  plain  view  from  the  village,  was  luckily  con- 
cealed from  the  fort.  Taking  advantage  of  the  peculiar  lay 
of  the  land  between,  Clark  marched  his  little  band  of  men 
back  and  forth  just  within  the  edge  of  a  wood,  every 
banner  unfurled  to  the  breeze,  every  rifle  shining  in  the 
light,  thus  deceiving  the  watchers  into  the  belief  that  he 
had  behind  him  a  thousand  armed  followers.  Such  an 
exhibition  of  military  strength,  coupled  with  Clark's  repu- 
tation for  daring  along  that  frontier,  and  the  mystery  of 
his  sudden  appearance  from  out  the  waste  of  those  sur- 
rounding waters,  completely  overawed  the  French  popula- 
tion, and  not  one  among  them  even  dared  to  steal  away  to 
the  unsuspecting  British  fort  and  warn  the  garrison  of  the 
danger  threatening. 

At  sundown,  Clark  divided  his  party,  now  eager  for  battle, 
into  two  small  bands.     Of  one  he  assumed  personal  com- 


204  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

mand  ;  the  other  was  entrusted  to  Captain  Bowman.  At 
seven  o'clock  the  latter  pushed  silently  forward  and  sur- 
rounded the  town,  while  the  former  hurried  directly  through 
the  village  toward  the  unsuspecting  fort.  The  excited  in- 
habitants greeted  the  advancing  column  with  cheers  as  it 
swung  rapidly  along  the  single  street  of  the  village,  and 
handed  out  to  the  men  hidden  stores  of  much-needed  ammu- 
nition. The  surprise  of  the  fort  was  complete.  Hamilton 
believed  the  first  stray  shots  heard  were  fired  by  drunken 
Indians,  nor  did  he  fully  awaken  from  confidence  until,  in 
the  brilliant  moonlight,  his  officers  discovered  that  the  stock- 
ade was  already  completely  surrounded  by  American  border- 
men.  There  was  no  hesitancy  in  the  swift  and  deadly 
attack.  Those  gallant  fellows  had  not  marched  and  hun- 
gered all  those  long  leagues  to  play  at  war,  and  they  realized 
fully  the  vast  odds  opposing  them.  The  palisaded  fort  was 
a  strong  frontier  defence,  having  large  block-houses  at  the 
angles,  the  second  floors  towering  eleven  feet  above  the 
ground,  and  each  containing  both  cannon  and  swivel  guns. 
Clark  possessed  not  a  single  piece  of  artillery,  but  he  had 
with  him  the  most  expert  riflemen  of  the  border.  Sheltered 
behind  houses,  palings,  and  ditches,  as  coolly  as  though  they 
were  hunting  game  in  the  backwoods,  these  men  poured  such 
a  constant,  deadly  fire  through  the  narrow  loop-holes  of  the 
fort  as  to  utterly  silence  the  British  guns.  Not  a  gunner 
dared  remain  at  his  piece,  and  before  sunrise  it  became 
plainly  evident  that  the  garrison  was  already  seriously 
crippled,  although  the  return  fire  of  small  arms  continued 
briskly. 

At  nine  o'clock  that  morning  the  Americans  paused  in 
their  attack  just  long  enough  to  eat  breakfast,  that  being  the 
first  regular  meal  they  had  enjoyed  in  six  days.  Clark, 
taking  advantage  of  the  pause,  sent  in  to  Hamilton  an  invi- 
tation to  surrender,  but  that  officer  refusing,  the  firing  was 
at  once  hotly  resumed.  Soon  after  this  parley  occurred, 


FOOTSTEPS  OF  GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK       205 

a  party  of  French  and  Indian  scouts,  not  understanding  the 
situation,  burst  into  the  town.  They  were  loaded  down 
with  scalps  and  provisions  from  a  recent  raid  upon  American 
settlements.  Instantly  the  enraged  borderers  burst  from 
their  coverts  and  charged  them,  killing  two  and  wounding 
most  of  the  others.  Six  were  captured,  deliberately  toma- 
hawked in  sight  of  the  horrified  garrison,  and  their  bodies 
thrown  into  the  river.  Whether  justified  by  circumstances 
or  not,  this  act  overawed  the  surrounding  savages,  and 
struck  terror  among  the  French  volunteers  within  the  fort, 
many  of  whom  refused  to  fight  longer.  For  two  hours  the 
fighting  continued  unchecked,  the  firing  from  the  concealed 
American  riflemen  proving  constant  and  deadly.  A  number 
of  men  in  the  fort  were  struck  by  shots  entering  through  the 
narrow  loopholes,  and  finally,  in  despair  of  any  relief  from 
without,  Hamilton  sent  forth  a  white  flag,  requesting  a  three 
days'  truce,  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  satisfactory  terms 
of  surrender.  To  this  Clark  responded  in  the  following 
note,  thoroughly  characteristic  of  the  man  and  the  times  : 

"  Colonel  Clark's  Compliments  to  Mr.  Hamilton  and  begs  leave 
to  inform  him  that  Colonel  Clark  will  not  agree  to  any  Other  Terms 
than  that  of  Mr.  Hamilton's  Surrendering  himself  and  Garrison, 
Prisoners  at  Discretion. 

"  If  Mr.  Hamilton  is  Desirous  of  a  Conference  with  Colonel 
Clark  he  will  meet  him  at  the  Church  with  Captain  Helm. 

"February  24th,  1779.  G.  R.  CLARK." 

Finding  no  escape  possible,  Hamilton  agreed  to  this 
conference,  where  he  sought  in  vain  to  have  the  terms  of 
capitulation  modified.  At  last  articles  of  agreement  were 
signed,  and  the  time  set  for  the  formal  surrender  of  the  fort 
to  the  Americans.  At  the  appointed  hour,  on  the  morning 
of  the  twenty-fifth,  Lieutenant-Governor  Hamilton,  with  his 
garrison  of  eighty  men,  marched  forth  from  the  stockade,  past 
Bowman's  and  Mac  Carty's  companies,  the  latter  entirely 
Creole  volunteers,  while  the  Americans  under  Captains 


206  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Williams  and  Worthington  entered  the  fort,  relieved  the 
sentries,  and  hoisted  the  American  flag  above  the  palisade. 
Thirteen  guns  were  fired  as  a  national  salute,  during 
which  an  accident  occurred,  greatly  marring  the  deep  joy 
of  victory.  By  a  premature  explosion  of  cartridges,  Bow- 
man, Worthington,  and  four  privates  were  severely  burned. 
The  captured  fort  was  promptly  re-christened  "  Patrick 
Henry." 

It  is  almost  impossible  in  words  to  express  fitly  the  im- 
portance of  this  achievement.  In  many  respects  it  stands 
unique  and  alone  among  the  daring  deeds  of  war.  Clark, 
in  the  midst  of  Winter,  isolated  amid  the  wilderness,  fronting 
an  unknown  but  largely  outnumbering  enemy,  had  con- 
ducted a  forced  march  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  miles, 
through  leagues  of  icy  water,  often  rising  to  the  shoulders 
of  his  struggling  men.  With  only  a  small  party  of  ragged, 
famished,  half-disciplined  militiamen,  a  large  proportion 
Creole,  he  had  boldly  advanced  into  the  very  heart  of  a 
strange  and  hostile  country,  and,  without  the  aid  of  artillery, 
had  captured  a  strong  stockade  fort,  containing  cannon 
and  swivels,  and  manned  by  a  trained  garrison,  largely  out- 
numbering his  command.  The  conception  and  execution 
were  alike  heroic,  and,  with  all  honor  to  those  gallant  men 
who  so  boldly  followed  him,  the  meed  of  praise  belongs  for 
ever  to  George  Rogers  Clark.  And  the  result  was  well 
worthy  the  action,  for  by  this  means  the  great  Northwest 
was  won  to  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  XV 

PIONEER   LIFE   AND   ADVENTURE  ALONG  THE 
ILLINOIS   BORDER,    1782-1812 

IT  was  these  romantic  exploits,  performed  by  General 
Clark  and  his  frontier  followers  in  the  years  1778-1779, 
which  made  known  the  fertile  Illinois  country  to  Eastern 
bordermen.  The  result  was  an  almost  immediate  emigra- 
tion to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Wabash.  Among 
these  earlier  arrivals  not  a  few  of  Clark's  soldiers  returned, 
and  settled  upon  lands  which  had  been  allotted  them  as 
a  reward  for  army  service.  By  nature  adventurous,  and  of 
a  fearless  spirit,  cut  off  by  a  widely  unsettled  region  from 
any  civilization,  and  completely  surrounded  by  savage  tribes, 
it  is  surprising  that  these  earlier  settlers  escaped  with  so  little 
trouble.  Fighting  there  was  in  plenty,  and  Indian  massacre, 
yet  no  such  continuous  bloody  incidents  as  mark  the  pioneer 
history  of  Kentucky  and  Ohio  are  to  be  found  in  the  early 
annals  of  Illinois.  Nevertheless,  these  first  adventurous 
settlers,  who  invariably  founded  their  primitive  log  homes 
along  the  banks  of  streams  and  within  the  shadow  of  the 
woods,  fearful  lest  the  temptingly  open  prairie  land  should 
prove  unproductive,  were  never  left  for  long  undisturbed 
by  their  troublesome  red  neighbors.  They  held  to  their 
exposed  positions  for  many  years  through  constant  vigilance, 
and  the  readiness  of  their  deadly  rifles. 

Of  all  the  Illinois  Indians,  the  Kickapoos  proved  them- 
selves during  this  period  the  most  formidable  and  dangerous. 
Since  1763,  when  they  were  forced  southward  from  about 
the  great  lake  where  they  had  formerly  ruled  supreme,  this 
tribe  had  occupied  a  portion  of  the  territory  lying  along  the 

207 


ao8  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Mackinaw  and  Sangamon  Rivers,  having  their  principal 
villages  on  Kickapoo  Creek,  and  at  Elkhart  Grove.  For 
some  reason  their  intense  hatred  of  the  inflowing  American 
settlers  was  implacable,  and  they  were  ever  the  first  among 
Illinois  tribes  to  commence  hostilities,  the  last  to  submit 
and  enter  into  treaties  with  the  whites.  During  the  ten 
years  extending  from  1786  to  1796  this  tribe  alone,  recruited 
possibly  by  young  and  adventurous  warriors  from  other 
near-by  villages,  kept  the  isolated  white  settlements  in  a 
continual  state  of  alarm.  For  protection,  the  hardy  border- 
men  of  that  day  had  no  power  to  look  to  but  themselves. 
Laboring  in  the  corn-field  or  the  forest,  they  never  laid  aside 
the  trusty  rifle,  while  oftentimes  at  night  the  tired  worker 
was  compelled  to  stand  guard  about  his  own  home.  It  was 
a  time  of  continual  alarm,  of  ever-haunting  peril,  and  no 
family  enjoyed  for  a  moment  the  feeling  of  perfect  security. 

The  earlier  of  these  white  settlers  to  arrive  drifted  in 
naturally  from  the  south,  arriving  on  flat-boats,  or  huge 
family  arks,  like  floating  forts,  by  way  of  the  Ohio  and  the 
Wabash,  and  later  advanced  gradually  farther  into  the 
interior,  attracted  by  the  fertile  lands  discovered  during  their 
hunting  expeditions  along  the  smaller  streams.  These 
pioneers  were  mostly  from  Kentucky,  Virginia,  and  Penn- 
sylvania, of  the  rough,  adventurous  border  type,  largely 
incapable  of  enjoying  life  unspiced  by  danger,  while  among 
them  were  to  be  found  a  few,  oftentimes  of  more  sober  and 
settled  purpose,  claiming  birthplace  in  far-off  New  England, 
or  New  York.  Vigorous  and  athletic,  accustomed  to  all 
the  privations  and  hardships  of  the  open,  these  pioneer  back- 
woodsmen of  Illinois  were  remarkable  for  their  physical 
strength  and  courage,  which  was  naturally  increased  by 
their  continual  struggle  against  a  savage,  skulking  foe. 
Under  such  conditions  as  confronted  these  men,  the  weak- 
ling could  not  long  survive. 

They  early  adopted  a  costume  not  unlike  that  worn  by 


PIONEER  LIFE  AND  ADVENTURE  209 

the  Indians  surrounding  them,  a  fur  cap,  or  rude  home- 
made hat  of  leather,  buckskin  leggings,  together  with  a  loose 
hunting-shirt,  within  the  capacious  bosom  of  which  they 
could  conveniently  store  away  jerked  beef  and  bread  or 
almost  any  other  of  the  necessities  requiring  transporta- 
tion upon  the  trail.  About  the  waist  was  worn  a  belt,  to 
which  were  attached  knife  and  tomahawk.  Moccasins 
were  worn  upon  the  feet,  and  the  necessary  rifle  seldom  failed 
to  adorn  the  shoulder.  The  universal  habitation  was  a  log 
hut,  generally  set  in  a  little  clearing,  and  containing  but  a 
single  room,  to  be  increased  in  size  as  the  need  arose  or 
prospects  brightened.  Not  infrequently  this  would  be 
surrounded  by  palisades  of  sharpened  logs  set  firmly  in  the 
ground,  and  projecting  upward  fifteen  feet  or  more,  as  a 
further  protection  against  their  Indian  foes,  and,  whenever 
possible,  these  scattered  cabins  were  erected  in  close  prox- 
imity to  some  strong  central  block-house,  to  which  the  har- 
assed occupants  might  retreat  in  times  of  grave  emergency,  or 
where  they  could  leave  their  women  and  little  ones  in  safety 
while  the  fathers  tilled  the  fields. 

Considering  the  difficulties  to  be  overcome,  immigration 
into  this  new  land  was  rapid.  The  distance  from  the  nearest 
Eastern  settlements  was  considerable,  yet  three  hundred 
family  boats  were  reported  to  have  arrived  at  the  falls  of  the 
Ohio  in  the  Spring  of  1780  alone.  The  larger  number  of 
these,  however,  were  destined  for  Kentucky.  Among  the 
immigrants  to  Illinois  whose  names  have  since  become  fa- 
miliar in  State  history,  may  be  mentioned  James  Moore, 
Shadrach  Bond,  James  Garrison,  Robert  Kidd,  and  Larkin 
Rutherford.  Accompanied  by  their  families  these  made 
the  perilous  journey  across  the  Alleghanies,  on  foot  and  by 
wagon  down  the  Ohio  and  up  the  Mississippi  by  flat-boat, 
until  they  finally  landed  at  Kaskaskia.  Of  these  Moore, 
who  was  the  leader  of  the  party,  with  a  few  others,  soon 
located  on  the  hills  near  Bellefontaine,  while  Bond  and  the 


210  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

remainder  settled  in  the  American  Bottom  close  by  Harrison- 
ville,  near  what  was  afterwards  known  as  the  block-house 
fort.  It  was  this  early  settlement  which  gave  to  this  region 
its  peculiar  name.  James  Piggot,  John  Doyle,  Robert 
Whitehead,  and  a  Mr.  Bowen  arrived  shortly  afterwards, 
and  settled  permanently  within  the  State.  These  are  be- 
lieved to  compose  the  list  of  the  earliest  American  settlers, 
although  it  is  quite  probable  others  went  in  fully  as  early 
by  way  of  the  Wabash,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  there 
were  arrivals  even  in  this  neighborhood,  overlooked  by  the 
historians  of  those  days.  Among  those  mentioned,  Doyle 
taught  school,  and  was,  perhaps,  the  first  professional  teacher 
in  Illinois.  Speaking  French  and  Indian,  he  became  very 
useful  as  an  interpreter.  Not  until  1785  was  this  little  band 
of  pioneers  reenforced  by  new  arrivals.  Then  came  Joseph 
Ogle,  Joseph  Warley,  and  James  Andrews,  all  from  Virginia, 
and  each  having  a  large  family  accompanying  him.  The 
following  year  witnessed  the  arrival  in  the  country  of  James 
Leman,  George  Atcherson,  and  David  Waddell,  with  their 
families,  in  huge  arks  hauled  laboriously  up  the  river,  be- 
sides several  others  whose  names  have  not  been  preserved. 
It  is  extremely  difficult  to  picture  in  the  mind  the  lonely 
isolation,  oftentimes  the  seemingly  desperate  surroundings, 
of  these  first  American  invaders  of  the  Illinois  wilderness. 
About  them  stretched  the  primitive  forests,  the  virgin  prairie, 
dominated  over  by  the  jealous  Indian,  and  inhabited  by  all 
manner  of  wild  beasts.  Roads  were  unknown,  trails  merely 
those  used  by  the  savages,  the  streams  alone  forming  means 
of  communication  between  the  widely  scattered  settlements. 
These  latter  were  even  more  thoroughly  separated  by  reason 
of  the  rough,  mountainous  nature  of  that  southern  portion  of 
the  State,  where  these  earlier  settlers  found  homes.  We  can 
bring  the  picture  before  the  mind  —  a  small  French  village 
or  two  along  the  Mississippi,  with  a  few  more,  mere  huddled 
groups  of  huts,  upon  the  distant  banks  of  the  Illinois. 


PIONEER  LIFE  AND  ADVENTURE  211 

Farther  south,  scarcely  as  yet  venturing  to  push  forth  from 
the  protecting  shadows  of  the  Ozarks,  the  Americans  had 
cleared  a  few  patches  in  the  dense  forests,  and  erected  their 
block-houses  at  the  confluence  of  convenient  streams. 
Adventurous  hunters  wandered  back  and  forth,  keeping  up 
some  measure  of  communication  between  these  settlements, 
but  forest,  plain,  and  river  were  all  Indian-haunted,  and 
there  was  no  trade,  no  social  intercourse.  Each  little  body 
of  pioneers  lived  alone,  the  merest  pin-prick  in  that  deso- 
late wilderness  which  they  had  come  to  conquer. 

Their  surroundings  were  primitive,  their  wants  extremely 
few.  Following  the  first  year  or  two  of  struggle,  during 
which  they  frequently  felt  dire  want,  on  their  rude  tables 
might  be  found  johnny-cake,  or  journey  cake,  made  of 
coarse  corn-meal,  hominy,  or  pounded  maize,  thoroughly 
boiled,  with  other  savory  preparations  of  flour  and  milk,  in 
addition  to  a  rich  variety  of  game  afforded  by  the  chase. 
In  season,  the  forests  and  the  banks  of  streams  offered  much 
in  wild  fruit,  while  bee-trees,  with  their  welcome  sweets,  were 
not  uncommon.  Their  furniture  was  ever  of  the  roughest 
description,  being  usually  hewn  out  with  the  axe,  and  fash- 
ioned with  a  knife.  Most  articles  in  common  use  were 
altogether  of  domestic  manufacture,  although  a  few  opulent 
families  transported  treasures  from  the  East.  The  table 
utensils  were  largely  of  wood,  those  of  metal  being  extremely 
rare,  if  not  entirely  unknown  to  the  earliest  comers.  Bedding 
consisted  of  the  skins  of  bear,  deer,  or  buffalo.  Stoves  were 
not  thought  of,  and  the  huge  fire-places,  rudely  constructed 
of  stones,  plastered  with  clay,  piled  high  with  blazing 
logs,  were  favorite  haunts  on  those  long  Winter  evenings, 
when  the  storm  howled  without,  and  the  forest  trees  over- 
head swayed  to  the  blast.  It  was  a  rough,  hard  life,  a 
life  of  toil,  exposure,  privation,  and  continuous  danger.  The 
nearest  neighbor  was  usually  miles  away,  the  trail  toward 
his  dwelling  the  merest  dim  foot-track  through  forest  and 


212  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

across  prairie.  Opportunities  for  the  education  of  children 
were  extremely  scanty,  even  as  regards  the  rudiments.  If 
by  any  chance  the  mother  could  read,  while  the  father  was 
at  work  in  the  partially  cleared  field,  his  rifle  slung  to  his 
back,  she  would  barricade  the  door  against  prowling  savages, 
gather  the  little  ones  about  her,  and  teach  them  as  best  she 
could  from  out  the  treasures  of  her  own  memory. 

During  this  entire  period  —  that  is,  from  1786  to  1796  - 
these  small,  scattered  settlements  were  nominally  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Northwestern  Territory.  Not  until  the 
organization  of  the  county  of  St.  Clair  by  Governor  St.  Clair 
in  1 790,  was  there  any  adequate  administration  of  law,  indeed, 
no  pretence  at  such  administration.  No  courts  were  in  exist- 
ence, and  no  civil  government  worth  mentioning.  The 
people  were  a  law  unto  themselves  ;  their  manners  were 
rude,  but  their  morals  were  simple  and  pure  ;  the  grosser 
vices  being  exceedingly  uncommon.  Uncouth  as  they  were 
in  language,  dress,  and  action,  crime  of  any  kind  was  most 
infrequent.  They  were  proverbial  for  hospitality  and  kind- 
ness to  strangers  ;  with  no  tavern  in  the  whole  country,  every 
home  was  wide  open,  every  passing  traveller  welcome  to  the 
best  they  had  to  offer,  which  was,  indeed,  scanty  enough. 
Among  the  earlier  families  of  distinction  as  pioneers  there 
was  a  record  of  unblemished  morality  and  rectitude  of  con- 
duct. Not  a  few  had  come  to  this  far  land  impelled  thereto 
by  a  love  of  freedom  which  the  East  would  not  satisfy.  Yet 
a  common  poverty  made  brethren  of  them  all. 

In  1791,  by  special  Act  of  Congress,  four  hundred  acres 
of  land  was  granted  to  each  head  of  a  family  who  had  made 
improvements  in  Illinois  prior  to  1788,  except  village  im- 
provements. A  list  of  names,  entitled  to  these  donations, 
shows  a  total  number  of  two  hundred  and  forty-four,  eighty 
of  whom  were  Americans,  the  others  being  French  or 
French  half-breeds.  By  allowing  the  estimated  number  of 
five  souls  to  a  family,  we  have  a  total  population  in  that 


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PIONEER  LIFE  AND  ADVENTURE  213 

year  of  1,220.  This  was  exclusive  of  negroes.  Another 
side-light  comes  from  the  fact  that  before  1791,  under  the 
then  existing  militia  law,  the  muster  roll  gives  about  300 
men  capable  of  bearing  arms,  of  whom  only  sixty-five  were 
American.  This  illustrates  better  than  words  the  paucity  of 
the  population  and  their  defenceless  condition. 

"In  the  year  1797,3  colony  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-six 
persons  —  the  largest  which  had  yet  arrived  —  was  fatally  stricken 
with  disease,"  says  Davidson  and  Stuve's  history,  quoting  Western 
annals.  "They  were  from  Virginia,  had  descended  the  Ohio  in 
the  Spring,  and  landed  at  Fort  Massac,  from  which  they  made  their 
way  across  the  country  to  New  Design.  This  place,  situated 
within  the  present  limits  of  the  county  of  Monroe,  was  first 
established  in  1782.  It  was  located  on  an  elevated  and  beautiful 
plateau,  barren  of  timber,  overlooking  both  the  Kaskaskia  and 
Mississippi  Rivers.  The  season  chanced  to  be  exceedingly  wet, 
the  weather  extremely  warm,  and  the  trails  heavy  with  mud.  The 
colonists,  burdened  with  women  and  children,  toiled  for  twenty-six 
days  through  the  woods  and  swamps,  covering  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  miles.  They  arrived  at  their  destination 
completely  worn  out,  sick,  and  almost  famished.  At  New  Design 
they  found  the  old  settlers — who  had  long  been  harassed  by  Indians 
—  poorly  prepared  to  accommodate  them.  There  was  no  lack  of 
hospitality,  but  generosity  of  heart  could  not  enlarge  the  cabins, 
seldom  containing  more  than  one  room,  into  which  three  and  four 
families  were  now  crowded,  sick  ones  and  all.  Food  was  in- 
sufficient, salt  very  scarce,  and  medical  aid  out  of  the  question. 
A  putrid  and  malignant  fever  broke  out  among  the  newcomers, 
attended  by  such  fatality  as  to  sweep  half  of  them  into  the  grave 
before  the  coming  of  Winter.  No  such  fatal  disease  ever  appeared 
before  or  since  in  the  country." 

Nor  did  it  affect  any  of  the  older  inhabitants,  yet  the 
report  being  borne  eastward  tended  greatly  to  retard  immi- 
gration for  several  years. 

Wherever  the  adventurous  foot  of  a  white  man  trod  in 
the  Illinois  country,  that  was  the  day  of  hardship,  danger, 


2i4  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  death.  Every  forest  covert,  every  concealing  tuft  of 
prairie  grass,  every  sharp  bend  in  the  stream,  might  hide 
some  skulking  red  enemy.  In  the  little  cleared  fields,  even 
within  those  log  enclosures  called  home,  no  man  felt  safe 
from  attack.  Parties  of  vengeful  warriors  would  burst 
from  the  dark  woods,  work  their  hellish  deeds,  and  vanish, 
leaving  death  and  destruction  behind.  But  if  this  was  the 
day  for  deeds,  it  was  not  the  time  for  proclaiming  them. 
The  majority  of  the  earlier  settlers  were  illiterate  men,  they 
seldom  came  in  contact  with  others  of  their  own  race  ex- 
cepting their  more  immediate  neighbors,  and  no  newspaper 
flourished  to  reward  heroism.  But  few  out  of  the  many 
deeds  of  adventure,  of  desperate  peril  and  suffering,  have 
survived,  and  these  are  set  forth  in  the  fewest  words  pos- 
sible. We  will  make  mention  of  some  of  those  as  recorded 
in  the  "  Annals  of  the  West,"  pages  700  to  705.  Multiply 
these  a  hundred  fold,  and  they  may  afford  a  faint  mental 
picture  of  those  ten  years  of  continuous  horror  along  that 
battling  Illinois  frontier. 

At  first  that  section  known  as  the  American  Bottom  — 
the  rich  strip  of  low  land  lying  between  the  Ozarks  and  the 
Mississippi,  and  extending  northward  until  nearly  opposite 
St.  Louis  —  seemed  the  chosen  field  for  Indian  foray  and 
destruction.  As  early  as  1783  one  James  Flannery  was 
murdered  by  a  marauding  party  of  savages  while  on  a  hunt- 
ing expedition.  A  few  years  later  the  Indians  openly  attack- 
ed the  American  settlement  at  Bellefontaine,  in  what  is  now 
Monroe  County,  killed  James  Andrews,  his  wife  and  one 
daughter,  together  with  James  WThite  and  Samuel  McClure. 
Two  daughters  of  Andrews  were  taken  prisoners,  and 
borne  by  their  captors  as  far  as  Peoria  Lake.  One  died 
in  the  Indran  village,  the  other  was  later  ransomed  by 
French  traders,  and  as  late  as  1850  was  still  living  in  St. 
Clair  County,  the  mother  of  a  large  family.  Most  of  those 
in  this  settlement  had  built,  and  retired  into,  a  large  block- 


PIONEER  LIFE  AND  ADVENTURE  215 

house,  but  these  were  recklessly  taking  their  chances  outside. 
Not  long  afterwards,  and  near  the  same  place,  William 
Biggs  was  taken  prisoner.  While  himself,  John  Vallis, 
and  Joseph  and  Benjamin  Ogle,  were  passing  from  the 
station  on  the  hills  to  the  block-house  fort  in  the  bottom, 
they  were  suddenly  attacked  by  Indians.  Biggs  and  Vallis 
were  a  few  rods  in  advance  of  the  others.  The  latter  was 
instantly  killed,  and  Biggs  captured.  The  others  escaped 
in  safety.  Biggs  was  taken  across  the  prairies  to  a  Kickapoo 
town  on  the  Wabash.  The  Indians  treated  him  kindly, 
offering  him  the  daughter  of  a  brave  for  a  wife,  and  proposed 
to  adopt  him  into  their  tribe.  He  was  finally  liberated 
by  the  French  traders,  and  later  became  a  resident  of  St. 
Clair  County,  a  member  of  the  territorial  legislature,  and 
judge  of  the  county  court.  He  published  a  narrative  of  his 
captivity  among  the  Indians.  During  this  same  year, 
James  Garrison  and  Benjamin  Ogle,  while  hauling  hay 
from  the  bottom,  were  attacked.  Ogle  was  shot  in  the 
shoulder,  where  the  ball  remained,  but  Garrison  sprung 
from  the  load  and  escaped  unhurt  into  the  woods.  The 
horses  took  fright,  and  running  away  carried  the  helpless 
Ogle  safely  into  the  settlement.  Later,  while  engaged  in 
stacking  that  same  hay,  Samuel  Garrison,  and  a  man  named 
Riddick,  were  killed  by  the  Indians,  and  both  scalped. 

The  year  following  the  savages  became  exceedingly  bold, 
devoting  their  attention  particularly  to  the  killing  of  cattle 
and  stealing  of  horses.  Nor  were  they  satisfied  entirely 
with  this  species  of  mischief.  A  party  of  them  attacked 
three  boys,  only  a  few  yards  from  the  Bellefontaine  block- 
house, one  of  whom,  David  Waddell,  was  struck  with  a 
tomahawk  in  three  places,  and  scalped,  yet  he  recovered. 
The  others  succeeded  in  escaping  unhurt.  About  this  same 
time  a  young  man  named  James  Turner,  while  out  hunting 
along  the  American  Bottom,  was  waylaid  and  shot.  Two 
men  travelling  to  St.  Louis  were  ambuscaded,  killed,  and 


2i 6  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

scalped.  Two  other  men  were  attacked  while  on  a  load  of 
hay,  one  being  killed  outright,  while  his  companion  was 
scalped,  but  recovered.  During  this  same  reign  of  terror 
throughout  what  is  now  Monroe  County,  John  Ferrel  was 
killed,  and  John  Dempsey  was  scalped  but  afterwards 
made  his  escape. 

During  the  year  1790  the  Indians  seemed  also  to  concen- 
trate their  depredations  against  the  scattered  settlers  along 
the  American  Bottom,  and  Bellefontaine  became  again 
the  centre  of  their  hostile  operations.  During  the  Winter, 
when  the  pioneers  usually  felt  more  secure  from  attack,  a 
party  of  Osage  Indians  from  Missouri,  previously  peaceable, 
suddenly  crossed  the  Mississippi,  and  stole  a  number  of 
their  horses.  The  Americans  rallied,  took  their  trail,  and 
overtaking  them,  exchanged  fire.  James  Worley,  one  of 
the  oldest  among  the  settlers,  getting  somewhat  in  advance 
of  the  others,  was  shot  and  scalped,  his  head  being  cut  off 
and  left  upon  a  sand-bar,  beside  his  mutilated  body.  Some- 
what later  in  the  season,  James  Smith,  a  Baptist  preacher 
from  Kentucky,  who  was  on  a  visit  to  these  frontiers,  was 
taken  prisoner  by  a  roving  band  of  Kickapoos,  and  had  a 
most  unpleasant  experience.  While  in  company  with  a 
Mrs.  HufF,  and  a  Frenchman  whose  name  has  not  been 
preserved,  he  was  riding  on  horseback  from  the  block-house 
to  a  settlement  then  known  as  Little  Village.  The  savages 
fired  upon  them  from  an  ambuscade  near  Bellefontaine, 
killing  the  Frenchman's  horse  at  the  first  shot.  They  then 
sprang  upon  the  woman  and  her  child,  whom  they  de- 
spatched with  the  tomahawk,  and  Smith  was  taken  prisoner. 
His  own  horse  having  also  been  shot,  he  at  first  attempted  to 
escape  on  foot,  and  having  some  valuable  papers  in  his  saddle- 
bags managed  to  throw  them  into  the  bushes,  where  they 
were  found  the  next  day  by  a  friend.  He  might  possibly 
have  gotten  away  in  safety,  but  being  very  zealous  in  good 
works,  he  suddenly  stopped  and  fell  on  his  knees  in  prayer 


PIONEER  LIFE  AND  ADVENTURE  217 

for  the  poor  woman  being  butchered,  who  had  been  seri- 
ously impressed  for  some  days  under  his  ministration 
about  religion.  The  Frenchman,  unhurt,  escaped  into  the 
thicket,  but  the  Indians  soon  had  Smith,  and  loaded  him 
up  with  numerous  packs  of  plunder  they  had  collected 
during  their  raid.  They  then  took  up  their  line  of  march 
through  the  prairies.  Smith,  who  was  a  large,  heavy  man, 
soon  became  exhausted  under  his  load  and  beneath  the 
hot  sun.  Several  consultations  were  held  by  the  Indians 
as  to  how  best  to  dispose  of  their  prisoner.  Some  among 
them  were  for  despatching  him  at  once,  being  fearful  lest 
the  whites  pursue  them  from  the  settlements.  Frequently 
they  pointed  their  guns  at  him  with  this  purpose  in  mind. 
But  Smith,  understanding  something  of  the  Indian  character 
and  superstitions,  would  bare  his  breast  in  defiance,  and 
point  upward  to  signify  that  the  Great  Spirit  was  his  pro- 
tector. Seeing  him  frequently  on  his  knees  in  prayer,  and 
hearing  him  singing  hymns  on  the  march,  which  he  did  to 
relieve  his  own  mind  of  despondency,  they  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  he  must  be  "  a  great  medicine,"  holding  con- 
stant intercourse  with  the  Great  Spirit,  and  that  it  would 
not  be  safe  to  kill  him.  After  reaching  this  decision,  they 
relieved  him  of  his  burden,  and  treated  him  with  extreme 
kindness.  He  was  taken  to  the  Kickapoo  towns  on  the 
Wabash,  where  after  a  few  months'  captivity,  he  obtained 
deliverance,  the  inhabitants  of  New  Design,  who  greatly 
valued  his  ministerial  labors,  paying  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty dollars  for  his  ransom. 

Meanwhile  there  was  no  cessation  in  the  Indian  troubles 
along  the  border.  Raids  were  constantly  being  made  on 
exposed  settlements,  nor  were  the  settlers  in  sufficient  num- 
bers at  any  one  place  to  retaliate  in  force.  It  was  a  continual 
record  of  skirmishing,  the  savages  apparently  not  so  anxious 
to  take  human  life  as  to  procure  for  their  own  use  the  horses 
of  the  bordermen.  To  these,  however,  this  was  always  a 


218  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

most  serious  loss,  and  certain  to  provoke  a  fight,  if  the  red 
thieves  could  be  overhauled.  In  May,  1791,  while  endeavor- 
ing to  protect  his  horses,  John  Dempsey  was  attacked,  but 
succeeded  in  making  his  escape.  He  was  a  man  of  some 
importance  in  that  young  settlement,  and,  as  soon  as  the 
matter  was  reported,  a  party  of  eight  men  started  promptly 
on  the  trail  of  the  marauders.  The  Indians  outnumbered 
the  whites  two  to  one,  and  coming  into  contact,  both  sides 
immediately  took  to  the  trees.  A  running  fight  was  kept 
up  for  several  hours,  the  Indians  retreating,  the  whites  re- 
morselessly pursuing  them  from  tree  to  tree,  until  night 
finally  put  an  end  to  the  conflict.  Five  of  the  Indians  were 
killed,  while  none  of  the  whites  were  injured.  This  com- 
pany of  settlers  was  composed  of  Captain  Hull,  Joseph  Ogle, 
Sr.,  Benjamin  Ogle,  James  N.  Semen,  Sr.,  J.  Ryan,  Wm. 
Bryson,  John  Porter,  and  D.  Draper. 

The  success  of  this  expedition  had  a  quieting  effect  for 
some  time,  so  that  little  occurred  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
border  excepting  a  few  desultory  cattle  raids,  until  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year  1793.  Then  followed  a  period  of  con- 
tention and  alarm  wherever  a  venturesome  white  settler 
had  cleared  his  little  patch  of  ground  in  the  heart  of  the 
backwoods.  The  few  earlier  settlers  were  greatly  strength- 
ened this  year  by  the  opportune  arrival  of  a  band  of  emi- 
grants from  Kentucky.  These  were  nearly  all  bordermen, 
and  among  them  was  that  famous  family  of  Indian  fighters 
named  Whiteside.  It  was  not  long  before  their  energy  and 
courage  were  put  to  severe  test.  In  February  an  Indian, 
skulking  in  ambush,  succeeded  in  severely  wounding  Joel 
Whiteside,  although  he  escaped  with  his  life.  Others, 
however,  were  not  so  fortunate,  and  in  quick  succession, 
John  Moore,  Andrew  Kinney,  Thos.  Todd,  and  several 
others  whose  names  are  now  unknown,  were  killed  and 
scalped  by  various  raiding  parties.  Finally,  a  party  of 
Kickapoos,  supposed  at  the  time  to  be  headed  by  the  cele- 


PIONEER  LIFE  AND  ADVENTURE  219 

brated  war-chief,  Old  Pecan,  made  a  predatory  excursion 
into  the  American  Bottom.  Near  where  is  now  the  residence 
of  S.  W.  Miles,  in  Monroe  County,  they  succeeded  in  steal- 
ing nine  horses,  and  began  their  retreat.  A  number  of 
settlers  rallied  and  commenced  a  vigorous  pursuit,  but  of 
these  many  dropped  out,  unwilling  to  venture  so  far  into  the 
Indian  country,  until  finally  all  had  abandoned  the  desperate 
undertaking  except  eight  men.  This  little  band  was  led  by 
Wm.  Whiteside,  a  borderman  of  unquestionable  bravery 
and  great  prudence.  Those  with  him  were  Samuel  Judy, 
John  Whiteside,  Uel  Whiteside,  Wm.  L.  WThiteside,  Wm. 
Harrington,  John  Dempsey,  and  John  Porter. 

This  little  band  of  intrepid  frontiersmen  followed  closely 
on  the  trail  of  the  retreating  savages,  passing  near  the  site 
of  the  city  of  Belleville,  toward  the  Indian  encampment  on 
Shoal  Creek,  where  they  succeeded  in  recovering  three  of 
the  stolen  horses,  without  permitting  their  enemies  to  be- 
come aware  of  their  presence.  The  band  of  pursuers,  small 
as  it  was,  now  divided  into  two  parts,  consisting  of  four  men 
each,  and  prepared  to  approach  the  unsuspecting  Indian 
camp  from  opposite  directions.  The  signal  for  attack  was 
to  be  the  discharge  of  the  leader's  gun.  Stealing  cautiously 
forward  through  the  timber  lining  the  bank  of  the  stream, 
they  succeeded  in  getting  within  firing-distance  unobserved, 
and  poured  in  a  withering  volley.  One  Indian,  a  son  of 
Old  Pecan,  was  instantly  killed,  another  mortally,  and 
several  others  slightly,  wounded  ;  then  the  uninjured  savages 
fled  in  confusion,  leaving  their  guns  behind  them.  Such 
unexpected  courage  on  the  part  of  the  whites,  together  with 
the  attack  on  two  sides  at  once,  convinced  the  Indians 
that  they  were  being  followed  by  a  large  force,  and  the  wily 
old  chief  approached,  intending  to  beg  for  quarter.  Dis- 
covering, however,  how  few  there  were  of  the  whites  as 
opposed  to  the  number  of  his  own  warriors,  he  determined 
instantly  on  resistance,  and  called  aloud  to  his  braves  to 


220  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

return,  and  retrieve  their  honor.  He  had  surrendered  his 
own  gun  to  the  whites  on  first  coming  up,  and  now  seized  the 
gun  in  the  hands  of  Captain  Whiteside,  striving  to  wrest 
it  from  him.  Whiteside  was  a  powerful  man,  and  he  forced 
the  enraged  Indian  back,  permitting  him  to  go  to  his  people 
unhurt,  deeming  it  dishonorable  to  destroy  an  unarmed 
man,  after  he  had  surrendered.  But  this  little  band  of 
eight  men  was  by  this  time  in  a  most  perilous  position. 
They  stood  alone  in  the  very  heart  of  the  Indian  country, 
where  hundreds  of  warriors  could  be  raised  in  a  few  hours' 
time.  Captain  Whiteside,  who  was  as  prudent  as  brave, 
decided  at  once  upon  retreat.  With  those  horses  they  had 
recovered,  they  immediately  plunged  into  the  wilderness, 
heading  for  home.  They  travelled  night  and  day,  neither 
eating  nor  sleeping,  until  they  arrived  in  safety  at  Whiteside's 
station  in  Monroe  County.  The  extreme  narrowness  of 
their  escape  was  made  manifest  that  same  night,  when  Old 
Pecan,  with  seventy  warriors,  pressing  hot  on  their  trail, 
reached  the  vicinity  of  Cahokia.  From  that  time  the  very 
name  of  Whiteside  ever  struck  terror  among  the  Kickapoos. 
Whether  right  or  wrong,  this  action  brought  swift 
retaliation  on  the  part  of  the  Indians  along  the  border.  In 
revenge  for  the  death^of  Old  Pecan's  son,  a  young  man  named 
Thomas  Whiteside  was  shot  and  killed  close  to  the  station, 
and  a  little  later  a  son  of  Captain  Whiteside  was  toma- 
hawked, and  died  of  his  wounds.  Mr.  Huff,  one  of  the 
oldest  settlers,  was  also  waylaid  and  killed  while  on  his 
way  to  Kaskaskia.  The  year  following,  two  white  men  and 
some  French  negroes  were  killed  on  the  American  Bottom, 
and  several  others  taken  prisoners.  About  this  same  time, 
several  members  of  the  family  of  Mr.  McMahon  were  killed, 
and  himself  and  daughter  taken  prisoners.  This  man  lived 
upon  the  outskirts  of  the  settlement.  Four  Indians  attacked 
his  house  in  daylight,  killed  his  wife  and  four  children  before 
his  eyes,  laid  their  bodies  in  a  row  on  the  floor  of  the  cabin, 


PIONEER  LIFE  AND  ADVENTURE  221 

took  him  and  his  daughter,  and  departed  hastily  for  their 
towns.  On  the  second  night  of  their  march,  McMahon, 
discovering  the  Indians  asleep,  slipped  on  their  moccasins 
and  made  his  escape.  He  arrived  at  the  settlement  just  as 
the  neighbors  were  about  to  bury  his  family.  They  had 
already  enclosed  the  bodies  in  rude  coffins,  and  were  covering 
them  with  earth.  He  looked  at  the  closing  graves,  and 
raising  his  eyes  to  Heaven  said  in  pious  resignation,  "  They 
were  lovely  and  pleasant  in  their  lives,  and  in  their  death 
are  not  divided."  His  daughter,  later  Mrs.  Catskill,  of 
Ridge  Prairie,  was  ransomed  by  the  charitable  contributions 
of  the  people.  A  short  time  after  this  occurrence,  the  White- 
sides  and  others,  to  the  number  of  fourteen,  made  an  attack 
upon  an  encampment  of  Indians,  of  greatly  superior  force, 
which  was  situated  at  the  foot  of  the  bluffs,  just  west  of  the 
present  site  of  Belleville.  Only  one  Indian  out  of  the  entire 
party  returned  to  his  tribe  to  tell  the  story  of  the  battle.  The 
graves  of  the  remainder  were  to  be  seen  only  a  few  years  ago 
in  the  border  of  the  thicket  near  the  battle-ground.  During 
the  heat  of  the  skirmish,  Captain  Whiteside  was  severely 
wounded, —  he  thought  mortally, —  having  received  a  shot 
in  the  side.  As  he  fell  he  called  to  his  sons  to  keep  on  fight- 
ing and  not  to  yield  an  inch  of  ground,  or  permit  the  savages 
to  touch  his  body.  Uel  Whiteside,  who  had  also  been  shot  in 
the  arm,  so  that  he  could  no  longer  use  his  rifle,  hastily 
examined  his  father's  wound,  discovering  that  the  bullet 
had  glanced  along  the  ribs,  and  lodged  against  the  spine. 
With  that  daring  and  disregard  for  pain  so  often  character- 
istic of  bordermen,  he  immediately  whipped  out  his  knife, 
gashed  the  skin,  and  extracting  the  ball,  held  it  up,  crying, 
'  You're  not  dead  yet,  father."  The  old  man  leaped  to  his 
feet,  and  renewed  the  fight,  bearing  his  full  part  to  the  end. 
Many  such  instances  of  desperate  intrepidity,  and  warlike 
heroism,  distinguished  the  men  who  in  those  days  of  peril 
were  called  upon  to  defend  the  frontiers  of  Illinois. 


222  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

The  defeat  of  the  confederated  Indians  in  1794,  on  the 
Maumee,  by  General  Anthony  Wayne,  brought  peace  to 
these  long-harassed  settlers  along  the  Illinois  border.  A 
few  horses  were  occasionally  stolen,  and  in  1802  two 
Americans  were  killed,  but  no  open  attack  was  made  upon 
the  settlements.  Families  again  took  up  their  abode  on 
the  open  prairies,  and  began  pushing  out  farther  into  the 
unoccupied  wilderness.  Emigrants  from  the  States  came 
clustering  around  them,  and  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  was 
pursued  without  fear  of  molestation.  During  the  period 
extending  between  1802  and  1810,  nothing  occurred  to 
interrupt  the  quiet  routine  of  peace  upon  the  frontier. 

While  what  is  now  Illinois  was  thus  a  portion  of  the 
Northwestern  Territory,  it  had  been  divided  into  two  coun- 
ties, Randolph  and  St.  Clair.  In  1800,  by  an  Act  of  Con- 
gress the  whole  of  the  Northwestern  Territory,  with  the 
exception  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  was  named  Indiana,  and 
Wm.  H.  Harrison,  later  President  of  the  United  States,  was 
appointed  its  Governor.  Illinois  continued  thus  as  a  part  of 
Indiana  until  February  3,  1809,  when,  by  another  Act  of 
Congress,  all  that  portion  of  the  Indiana  Territory  which  lies 
west  of  the  Wabash  River  and  a  direct  line  drawn  from  that 
river  and  Fort  Vincennes  due  north  to  the  territorial  line 
between  the  United  States  and  Canada,  was  formed  into  a 
separate  territory  by  the  name  of  Illinois.  Ninian  Edwards, 
then  Chief  Justice  of  Kentucky,  was  named  as  Governor.  In 
1810,  new  settlements  had  been  formed  in  Gallatin,  John- 
son, Union,  and  Jackson  Counties,  and  the  census  gives  the 
population  of  the  territory  at  that  time  as  12,284  inhabi- 
tants. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
THE   TRAGEDY   AT   FORT   DEARBORN 

IN  1812  this  pleasant  peace  of  the  Illinois  border  was 
destined  to  be  rudely  interrupted  by  sudden  wild  Indian 
foray.  The  breaking  out  of  a  second  war  between  England 
and  the  United  States  immediately  involved  the  savages  of 
the  West,  already  restless  from  the  constant  encroachment 
of  settlers,  and  stirred  by  the  harangues  of  dissatisfied  chiefs. 
Almost  without  exception,  the  various  tribes  allied  them- 
selves promptly  on  the  side  of  the  redcoats,  and  began 
depredations  along  the  entire  exposed  American  frontier. 
The  war  itself  opened  within  the  present  limits  of  Illinois 
with  most  pathetic  tragedy.  But  it  was  not  those  long-time 
battling  settlers  of  the  southern  counties,  whose  advance 
settlements  now  extended  as  far  north  as  Edwardsville, 
in  Madison  County,  upon  whom  this  first  shock  fell.  It 
was  reserved  for  a  little  isolated  garrison  of  regular  soldiers, 
stationed  at  the  extreme  northeast  corner,  upon  the  very 
spot  where  to-day  Chicago  proudly  looks  forth  across  the 
blue  waters  of  Lake  Michigan. 

It  is  comparatively  easy  to  stand  in  the  open,  amid  the 
surroundings  of  unchanged  nature,  and  recall  some  grim 
event  of  history  which  has  taken  place  upon  that  spot.  The 
mind  responds  happily  to  the  summons,  and  quickly  weaves 
the  recorded  details  about  those  hills  and  valleys,  woods 
and  ravines.  It  all  stands  out  once  again,  a  clear  mental  pic- 
ture of  that  other  day  long  past.  But  it  is  far  different  when 
a  great  city  has  sprung  up  there,  and  buried  deep,  beneath 
its  mass,  all  evidences  of  former  tragedy  or  heroic  struggle. 
The  great  buildings  rising  on  every  side  fetter  imagination, 

223 


224  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  the  obstructing  curtain  of  time  refuses  to  rise,  to  permit 
of  our  beholding  things  as  they  really  were  a  brief  century 
previous.  We  are  too  closely  imprisoned  within  the  stone 
walls  of  the  present, —  the  wild,  little  understood,  former 
life  returns  to  us  as  the  merest  dream,  the  actors  in  it  but 
shadows,  unreal  and  indistinct. 

There  are  few  busier  spots  in  any  city  than  that  which 
Chicago  presents  at  the  southern  approach  to  the  Rush 
Street  bridge.  It  is  typically  illustrative  of  commercial 
enterprise,  and  ever  alive  with  business  activity.  During 
the  hours  of  daylight  the  street  is  thronged  with  hurrying 
figures,  and  oftentimes  blocked  by  a  multitude  of  teams.  It 
composes  the  centre  of  a  vast  wholesale  district,  and  various 
interests  constantly  swirl  and  battle  here  for  mastery- 
Out  in  the  dull-colored  river,  huge  passenger  and  freight 
steamers  are  continually  churning  past,  while  the  great 
walls  of  business  blocks,  teeming  with  thousands  of  workers, 
rear  themselves  story  upon  story  into  a  sky  black  with 
smoke.  To  stand  there,  amid  such  a  throng,  and  read  the 
inscription  graven  upon  a  tablet  embedded  within  the  red 
brick  wall  of  a  wholesale  grocery  opposite,  is  like  being  sud- 
denly awakened  from  a  dream.  The  mind  cannot  at  once 
compass  the  vast  vista  between.  It  seems  unreal,  untrue, 
so  far  a  call  from  now  to  then,  from  this  scene  of  feverish 
activity  and  money-getting,  to  that  other  day  of  frontier 
loneliness  and  heroic  self-sacrifice. 

Let  us  walk  slowly  and  thoughtfully  from  this  spot  south- 
ward on  Michigan  Avenue,  one  of  the  most  stately  boulevards 
of  the  world,  past  the  sombre-hued  business-houses,  the  mag- 
nificent hotels,  the  great  buildings  dedicated  to  art,  music, 
and  drama,  until  we  arrive  where  the  green  park  stretches 
along  upon  one  side,  smiling  back  upon  rows  of  pleasant 
houses.  It  all  forms  a  city  scene  to  be  remembered,  to  be 
long  treasured  in  the  mind,  with  its  panorama  of  ever- 
changing  natural  and  architectural  beauty,  its  constantly 


THE   TRAGEDY  AT  FORT  DEARBORN         225 

recurring  suggestions  of  refinement  and  wealth.  Let  us  drift 
eastward  as  we  approach  Fourteenth  Street,  and  select  for 
our  farther  promenade  one  of  those  avenues  running  closer 
to  the  lake  shore,  avenues  beautified  by  large  and  tasteful 
homes,  rendered  attractive  by  every  device  of  wealth.  At 
Eighteenth  Street,  we  may  pause  and  contemplate  the  bronze 
monument  erected  there.  If  we  have  done  this  thoughtfully, 
then  we  have  lived  over  once  again  within  our  own  minds 
one  of  the  great  tragedies  of  the  Illinois  frontier,  for  we 
have  been  walking  upon  historic  ground,  ground  once  red- 
dened with  blood,  along  a  path  marched  over  by  soldiers, 
women,  and  children,  to  their  fate  beneath  the  dripping 
knife  and  tomahawk  of  savages. 

It  seems  now  so  far  away,  so  unreal  in  the  midst  of  all 
this  glamour  and  show.  Yet  here  it  was  that  the  unspeakable 
horror  was  perpetrated.  Here  the  hordes  of  painted  savages 
skulked  behind  the  sand-ridges,  and  leaped  forth  to  kill  and 
mutilate;  here  Wells  died,  as  became  a  fearless  soldier; 
here  Ronan  gave  up  his  young  life  ungrudgingly  ;  here 
women  and  little  ones,  whose  names  have  been  forgotten, 
fell  shrieking  beneath  the  savage  blows.  Let  us  see  if  out 
of  that  dim  past  we  cannot  paint  again,  in  fresher  coloring, 
that  old  historic  picture  against  the  background  of  this 
busy  city  life. 

It  is  August  of  the  year  1812.  This  is  the  uttermost 
frontier,  and  the  northern  Illinois  country  is  a  wilderness  of 
prairie  and  wood,  almost  untouched  by  the  venturesome 
foot  of  the  explorer.  A  few  scattered  French  settlements  — 
their  inhabitants  largely  half-breeds  —  dot  the  distant 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Illinois.  A  little  fringe 
of  white  settlers  has  pushed  northward  from  the  Ohio  as 
far  as  the  confines  of  the  present  county  of  Madison,  but 
that  is  hundreds  of  miles  distant.  All  communication,  if 
any  is  had,  must  be  by  means  of  water-ways  or  dim  Indian 
trails,  while  to  the  eastward  only  a  single  path  leads  through 


226  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

leagues  of  forest  land  to  the  distant  outpost  at  Fort  Wayne. 
So  Fort  Dearborn  stands,  a  silent,  isolated  sentinel  of  civili- 
zation, in  the  very  heart  of  a  wilderness,  the  full  extent  of 
which  no  white  man  knew.  Picture  this  spot  —  here  at 
busy  Rush  Street  bridge  —  in  that  month  of  August,  1812. 
Nine  years  previous,  Lieutenant  Swearingen,  with  his  little 
company  of  regular  soldiers,  had  landed  on  the  desolate 
shore  of  the  lake.  Proceeding  up  the  bank  of  the  river, — 
a  narrow  stream,  having  but  slight  current,  from  where  it 
then  emptied  near  the  present  foot  of  Madison  Street, — 
they  finally  selected  this  spot,  where  the  river  swerved 
southward,  as  being  best  fitted  for  purposes  of  fortification. 
Here  the  ground,  generally  flat  and  level,  rose  into  some- 
thing of  a  mound,  yielding  from  its  summit  a  clear  view  far 
away  across  the  plains  of  sand  and  prairie.  It  was  a  mag- 
nificent expanse  of  primeval  nature  outspread  on  every  side, 
yet  desolate  in  its  unspeakable  loneliness.  And  upon  this 
spot  these  army  pioneers  erected  a  rude,  typical  frontier 
fort. 

This  consisted  of  a  simple  stockade  of  logs,  standing  each 
upon  end,  firmly  implanted  in  the  ground,  extending  upward 
some  fifteen  feet,  and  sharpened  at  the  top.  This  outer 
stockade,  which  was  built  perfectly  solid  (excepting  for 
one  entrance  facing  southward,  protected  by  heavy  gates  of 
oaken  timber,  and  another,  a  subterranean  one,  leading 
out  beneath  the  north  wall  to  the  river),  was  sufficiently 
large  to  contain  a  small  parade  ground,  together  with  the 
requisite  buildings  for  the  expected  garrison,  such  as  officers' 
quarters,  troop  barracks,  guard  house,  and  magazine. 
These  were  alike  roughly  constructed  of  logs,  while  two 
block-houses,  each  erected  so  that  the  second  story  should 
overhang  the  first,  were  built  as  an  additional  protection, 
one  standing  at  the  southeast,  the  other  at  the  northwest, 
corner  of  the  palisaded  wall.  A  narrow  elevated  walk, 
or  banquette,  of  wood  enabled  defenders  to  stand  within 


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THE  SUCCESTiCS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  H1S~3?  3A 
OCIETY  THIS  TABLET  WAS  EPiC"C  BY 
OV.I880.  W.M.HOYT. 


TABLET  COMMEMORATING  FORT  DEARBORN 


ERECTED    ON    THE    WALLS    OF    THE    BUILDINR    NOW    OCCUPYING    THE    SITE 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  FORT  DEARBORN         227 

the  enclosure,  and  look  out  across  the  sharpened  pickets 
at  the  scene  beyond. 

In  August,  1812,  this  primitive  structure  contained  a 
garrison  of  four  officers,  with  fifty-four  non-commissioned 
officers  and  privates  of  the  First  Regiment,  United  States 
Infantry.  The  commandant  was  Captain  Nathan  Heald, 
an  experienced  soldier  in  the  prime  of  life.  Associated  with 
him  were  Lieutenant  Linus  T.  Helm,  an  officer  who  had 
much  frontier  service  to  his  credit  ;  Ensign  Ronan,  a  young, 
smooth-faced  lad  in  his  first  command,  and  Surgeon  Van 
Voorhees.  The  wives  of  the  two  senior  officers  were  with 
them,  Mrs.  Helm,  a  bride  but  seventeen  years  of  age, 
the  step-daughter  of  John  Kinzie,  a  much-respected  Indian 
trader,  who  had  his  home  almost  directly  across  the  river 
from  the  fort.  A  number  of  the  soldiers  also  had  their 
families  with  them,  so  that  altogether  the  stockade  contained 
twelve  women  and  twenty  children. 

If  possible,  let  us  throw  aside  our  present  environment, 
and  imagine  ourselves  soldiers  at  that  isolated  spot  a  century 
ago.  Stand  beside  me  for  a  moment,  and  glance  out  across 
those  sharpened  palisades  upon  that  scene  of  unvexed 
wilderness,  stretching  away  upon  every  hand.  It  is  hardly 
conceivable  now,  amid  the  mighty  buildings  and  the  restless 
activity  of  these  city  streets,  that  such  a  picture  could  then 
unroll  itself.  A  narrow,  sluggish  river,  its  low  banks  reed- 
bordered,  moved  slowly  lakeward  just  beneath  the  northern 
wall.  Across  its  waters  a  rope  ferry  connected  the  fort 
with  John  Kinzie's  rather  pretentious  cabin  on  the  opposite 
bank.  In  all  that  wide  domain  of  sea  and  sand  and 
prairie,  only  four  other  scattered  settlers'  homes  appeared 
within  view.  These  were  occupied  by  Ouilmette,  Burns, 
and  Lee,  the  last  named  possessing  also  a  second  cabin, 
situated  farther  out  upon  the  south  branch  of  the  little  river, 
and  occupied  by  a  tenant  named  Liberty  White.  These 
were  alike,  one-story,  single-roomed  huts,  and  were  the 


228  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

sole  visible  evidences  of  advancing  civilization.  Just  west 
of  the  fort  stood  a  two-story  log  house,  which  had  been 
erected  as  a  trading-store  for  the  Indians,  so  as  to  obviate 
as  much  as  possible  all  necessity  for  their  entering  the  fort 
itself.  The  southern  bank  of  the  river,  both  above  and 
below,  was  fairly  honeycombed  by  caves  dug  in  the  soft 
earth,  in  which  the  soldiers  stored  the  vegetables  raised 
in  their  gardens. 

Such  were  the  more  immediate  surroundings.  But 
what  of  that  wider  view,  sweeping  to  the  far  horizon  ?  It 
was  then  the  profound  loneliness  of  such  a  situation  must 
have  rested  like  a  weight  upon  the  most  buoyant  spirit. 
Westward  the  dull  level  of  the  plains  swept  out  into  un- 
known, unexplored  mystery,  roamed  over  by  strange  races 
of  savages  ;  to  the  north  the  land  was  more  broken,  and 
somewhat  heavily  wooded,  yet  no  white  man  dwelt  there 
for  hundreds  of  leagues;  to  the  east,  and  only  a  few  yards 
away,  the  waves  of  the  great  lake  broke  moaning  upon  the 
wide,  sandy  beach,  the  restless  water  stretching  in  tumultu- 
ous loneliness  to  their  distant  juncture  with  the  arching  sky; 
southward,  the  almost  level  prairie,  brown  and  sun-parched, 
merged  swiftly  into  rounded  heaps  of  drifted  sand,  the  only 
relief  being  found  in  a  few  straggling  groups  of  wind- 
racked  cottonwoods.  Beautiful  as  it  may  have  been  in  its 
variegated  coloring  and  extended  vista,  it  was  so  utterly 
desolate,  so  still  and  solemn,  as  to  leave  behind  a  feeling 
of  depression  difficult  to  withstand.  None  of  that  little 
garrison  could  fail  to  realize  to  the  full  how  isolated  they 
were  from  all  others  of  their  race. 

Early  during  August  of  that  year  1812,  there  came 
drifting  to  the  ears  of  the  garrison,  by  means  of  Indian 
runners,  rumors  regarding  the  approaching  struggle  with 
England,  and  of  a  growing  uneasiness  among  the  surround- 
ing tribes,  especially  the  Pottawattomies  and  the  Wyandots. 
On  the  ninth  the  first  direct,  and  official,  news  reached 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  FORT  DEARBORN        229 

them,  and  proved  to  be  of  the  gravest  character.  On  that 
date  an  Indian  named  Winnemeg,  or  Catfish,  a  friendly 
warrior  of  the  Pottawattomies,  arrived  directly  from  Detroit, 
bringing  word  of  the  English  capture  of  the  garrison  at 
Mackinac,  together  with  orders  from  General  Hull,  in 
command  of  the  American  troops  in  that  territory,  to  "evac- 
uate the  fort  at  Chicago  if  practicable,  and  in  that  event 
to  distribute  all  the  United  States  property  in  the  fort,  or 
factory,  to  the  Indians  in  the  neighborhood,  and  repair  to 
Fort  Wayne." 

The  situation  at  Dearborn  at  that  time  was  such  as  to 
test  severely  the  judgment  of  any  man.  If  Captain  Heald 
failed  to  decide  promptly  and  for  the  best,  it  was  no  more 
than  many  a  gallant  commander  has  done  both  before  and 
since.  Already  rumors  of  the  condition  of  affairs  had  gone 
abroad,  and  the  Indians,  many  of  them  hostile  and  threaten- 
ing, began  to  gather  around  the  stockade,  in  constantly  in- 
creasing numbers.  These  made  permanent  camp  somewhat 
to  the  westward  of  the  fort,  near  where  the  river  forked,  per- 
haps at  the  present  intersection  of  Clark  and  Lake  Streets. 
Their  scouting  parties  were  to  be  met  with  along  every 
trail  leading  to  the  south  and  west.  This  condition,  which 
almost  amounted  to  a  siege,  as  the  soldiers  dared  not  venture 
without  the  walls  except  in  large  parties,  was  greatly  aggra- 
vated by  the  situation  within.  An  unusually  large  number 
of  the  little  garrison  were  upon  the  sick  list,  and  unfit  for 
duty,  while  the  perilous  task  of  conveying  women  and 
children  over  that  long  trail,  stretching  through  woods  and 
swamps  to  Fort  Wayne,  every  mile  of  it  traversing  the 
hunting-grounds  of  hostile  savages,  was  not  to  be  lightly 
considered.  In  truth,  it  was  a  situation  so  filled  with  peril 
as  to  make  the  boldest  hesitate.  Heald  seemingly  quailed 
before  it,  and,  unfortunately,  hesitated  far  too  long  in  de- 
ciding what  was  his  duty.  The  delay  merely  served  to 
aggravate  matters,  bad  enough  from  the  start.  It  brought 


230  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

new  courage  and  numbers  to  the  allied  Indians,  and  aroused, 
among  the  officers  of  the  garrison,  a  spirit  almost  akin  to 
mutiny. 

But  through  all  this  internal  dissatisfaction  and  outside 
threatening,  Captain  Heald  apparently  remained  firm  in 
his  determination  to  obey  orders,  as  well  as  in  his  confidence 
relative  to  the  friendliness  of  the  Indians.  These  increased 
rapidly  in  numbers  and  insolence,  there  probably  being 
fully  five  hundred  in  their  encampment  by  August  12,  while 
many  others  were  hurrying  toward  them  along  the  trails. 
They  held  frequent  councils  in  the  black  shadows  of  their 
lodges,  and  upon  the  evening  of  that  day  the  commandant 
attended  one,  although  every  one  of  his  officers  refused  to 
accompany  him.  Word  had  been  brought  them  that 
treachery  was  intended,  and  when  Captain  Heald  left  the 
protection  of  the  fort,  and  walked  forth  upon  the  open  prairie, 
those  left  within  trained  loaded  cannon  in  the  direction  of 
the  distant  encampment.  This  evidence  of  watchfulness, 
coupled  with  the  absence  of  so  many  whom  they  had  hoped 
to  entrap,  induced  the  wily  savages  to  postpone  their  planned 
attack,  and  the  Captain  was  permitted  to  return  in  safety. 
During  this  council,  Heald  proposed  to  the  chiefs  to  dis- 
tribute among  them  the  stores  and  ammunition  belonging 
to  the  garrison,  provided  they  would  agree  to  furnish  him 
with  safe  escort  to  Fort  Wayne.  The  assembled  Indians 
were  profuse  in  their  pledges,  and  there  is  much  reason  to 
believe  that  these  were  at  the  time  honestly  made. 

Yet  here  enters  in  the  strange,  inexplicable,  yet  entirely 
natural  vacillation,  leading  up  to  a  most  deplorable  tragedy. 
Alarmed,  no  doubt,  by  the  imminent  danger  surrounding 
them,  influential  members  of  the  garrison  began  urging 
the  impolicy  of  thus  furnishing  the  Indians  with  arms 
and  ammunition,  which  they  might  later  use  against 
the  retreating  whites.  Heald  appears  to  have  been  over- 
borne by  the  force  of  this  argument,  so  that  on  August  13, 


THE   TRAGEDY  AT  FORT  DEARBORN         231 

in  direct  opposition  to  his  promises,  he  had  all  the  extra 
ammunition  thrown  into  an  abandoned  well  within  the 
stockade,  while  the  store  of  liquor  was  broken  open  and 
poured  into  the  river.  This  deceit,  being  early  discovered 
by  the  watchful  savages,  merely  served  to  increase  their 
resentment,  and  contributed  much  to  the  carrying  forward 
of  plans  of  treachery. 

The  fourteenth  was  rendered  notable  by  the  unexpected 
arrival  of  a  small  reenforcing  party,  who  approached  by  way 
of  the  land  trail,  leading  along  the  lake  shore  from  the  east. 
Although  severely  worried  by  the  enveloping  hordes  of  angry 
Indians,  who  sought  to  obstruct  their  progress,  these  latter 
finally  succeeded  in  reaching  the  gates  of  the  fort,  which 
were  thrown  open  for  their  admittance.  The  despairing 
garrison,  eager  for  any  news  from  without,  surged  about 
them,  with  anxious  questioning  and  vociferous  welcome. 
They  proved  to  be  a  party  of  thirty  Miami  warriors,  in- 
duced to  accompany  Captain  William  Wells,  a  white  man 
of  life-long  experience  upon  the  border,  and  the  adopted 
son  of  Little  Turtle,  the  famous  war-chief  of  the  Miamis. 
Wells  was,  in  many  respects,  a  remarkable  frontier  char- 
acter. Captured  while  but  a  mere  child,  he  had  spent  many 
years  in  Indian  camps,  rising  among  them  to  the  dignity  of 
a  warrior,  and  taking  personal  part  in  more  than  one  wild 
foray.  Later  in  life,  his  white  blood  asserting  itself,  he  had 
returned  to  his  own  people,  serving  gallantly  as  a  scout  un- 
der Wayne's  command,  and  at  this  time  held  the  important 
position  of  Indian  Agent  at  Fort  Wayne.  At  that  remote 
post  he  had  learned  by  chance  of  the  order  to  evacuate 
Fort  Dearborn,  and  comprehending  fully  the  hostile  pur- 
poses of  the  Indians,  had  made  a  forced  march  through 
the  wilderness,  hoping  thus  to  arrive  in  sufficient  time  to 
protect  his  niece,  Mrs.  Heald,  as  well  as  to  assist  the  be- 
leaguered garrison.  But  his  coming  was  already  too  late. 
The  grave  mistake  had  been  made,  and  was  beyond  recti- 


232  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

fying.  The  worst  passions  of  those  encompassing  savages 
had  been  aroused,  and  although  they  succeeded  in  partially 
concealing  their  intended  treachery,  the  trap  of  death  was 
already  laid  for  its  unsuspecting  victims.  On  the  evening 
of  this  same  day  a  second  council  was  held;  but,  if  any- 
thing, this  proved  less  satisfactory  than  the  other.  The  Ind- 
ian spokesmen  were  vehement  in  their  indignation  over  the 
wanton  destruction  of  ammunition  and  liquor,  and  their 
manner  was  insolent  and  threatening.  Nevertheless,  they 
reiterated  their  pledge  of  protection  to  the  garrison,  if  they 
would  desert  the  fort,  and,  in  spite  of  bitter  opposition  on 
the  part  of  his  officers,  Captain  Heald  determined  to  put 
these  pledges  to  the  test. 

That  little  stockade  of  logs,  erected  on  the  southern 
bank  of  the  Chicago  River,  within  sound  of  the  booming 
waves  of  the  lake,  the  great  silent  plains  stretching  all  around 
it,  was  an  animated  scene  that  night  of  final  preparation. 
John  Kinzie  had  brought  his  family  within  its  walls,  while 
other  settlers  of  the  neighborhood,  some  twelve  in  number, 
had  likewise  sought  its  protection,  so  that  sinewy  back- 
woodsmen mingled  with  the  soldiers  and  the  women  and 
children,  in  hurried  preparation  for  the  fateful  march  of 
the  morrow.  Wagons  were  loaded  with  the  necessities 
of  the  trail,  and  preparations  made  for  the  transportation  of 
the  sick,  and  those  others  unable  to  travel  on  foot.  Then 
the  reserve  ammunition,  twenty-five  rounds  to  each  man, 
was  distributed,  and  the  wearied  workers  finally  flung  them- 
selves down  for  whatever  sleep  was  possible.  Above  them, 
on  the  narrow  platforms,  the  sentries  gazed  anxiously  forth 
into  the  black  night  shrouding  the  prairie,  where  many  a 
warrior  skulked  and  gloated  in  fiendish  anticipation  of  the 
morrow.  Beyond,  at  the  Indian  village,  great  fires  blazed, 
about  which  dark  forms  leaped  in  wild  and  threatening 
dances. 

At  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  little  party  left  the 


MOiNUMENT  MARKING  THE  SITE  OF  THE  FORT 
DEARBORN  MASSACRE 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  FORT  DEARBORN         233 

fort.  It  was  a  beautiful  August  day.  The  sun  shone  with 
unwonted  splendor,  and  Lake  Michigan  "  was  a  sheet  of 
burnished  gold."  As  the  fugitives  filed  slowly  out  of  the 
fort  gate,  the  company  of  infantry,  in  light  marching  order, 
took  the  advance  on  foot.  Following  them  closely  was  a 
caravan  of  wagons,  piled  high  with  camp  equipage,  upon 
which  rode  the  wives  and  children  of  the  soldiers,  together 
with  those  too  sick  to  travel  otherwise.  The  officers'  ladies 
were  mounted,  while  the  few  white  settlers  travelled  as  best 
suited  themselves.  The  rear  of  the  column  was  guarded 
by  a  portion  of  Wells's  Miami  escort.  By  some  strange 
fortune,  as  the  little  party  thus  emerged  from  the  stockade, 
on  the  commencement  of  their  desperate  trip  through  the 
wilderness,  the  band  began  playing  "  The  Dead  March," 
but  were  instantly  ordered  to  substitute  a  more  cheering 
tune. 

Captain  Wells,  who,  having  no  faith  in  the  pledges  made, 
had  blackened  his  face,  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of 
those  Indians  among  whom  he  had  lived  so  long,  led  the 
van,  accompanied  by  a  few  of  his  Miami  scouts.  To  the 
right  and  rear  of  the  column  straggled  along  the  escort  of 
nearly  five  hundred  Pottawattomies.  In  this  order  the 
company  travelled  slowly  southward,  along  the  shining 
sand  of  the  level  beach,  with  the  smiling  waters  of  the  lake 
close  beside  them  upon  the  left.  Some  among  them  un- 
doubtedly felt  distrust  of  those  red  warriors,  skulking  along 
at  their  side,  their  cruel  eyes  gleaming  beneath  matted  hair, 
as  they  furtively  contemplated  their  destined  victims.  But 
in  the  hearts  of  most  was  merely  a  rejoicing  that  they  were 
again  bound  eastward,  toward  their  old  homes.  Children 
looked  forth  from  behind  the  wagon  covers,  and  clapped 
their  hands  in  innocent  glee  at  the  unusual  spectacle,  while 
the  mothers  watched  them  and  smiled.  As  these  two 
columns,  the  white  and  the  red,  approached  in  their  south- 
ward march  a  low  range  of  sand  hills  which  separated  the 


234  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

beach  from  the  prairie,  probably  at  about  what  is  now 
the  foot  of  Twelfth  Street,  the  Indians  silently  defiled  to  the 
right,  thus  bringing  these  slight  elevations  of  sand  between 
them  and  the  whites,  who  continued  toiling  along  nearer 
the  shore.  No  one  thought  anything  of  this  act  at  the  time  ; 
it  seemed  perfectly  natural,  and  engendered  no  feeling  of 
suspicion.  Only  a  little  farther  down  the  beach  this  inter- 
vening ridge  terminated,  and  there  it  was  supposed  the  two 
diverging  columns  would  reunite  for  the  continuance  of 
their  long  journey  together  around  the  head  of  the  great 
lake. 

In  this  way  the  march  of  the  fugitives  continued  unin- 
terrupted for  perhaps  a  mile  and  a  half.  The  low  walls  of 
the  deserted  fort,  already  overrun  by  a  howling  mass  of 
savages,  quarrelling  over  the  spoils  left  behind,  were  still 
visible,  when  the  advance  files  of  that  sturdy  column  of 
infantry  reached  the  spot  that  is  now  the  foot  of  Eighteenth 
Street.  Suddenly  there  was  a  halt  of  the  scouts  in  front. 
Then  Wells  wheeled  his  horse,  and  rode  back  furiously, 
shouting  as  he  came:  "They  are  going  to  attack;  form 
instantly,  and  charge  them  !  "  These  hasty  words  of  warn- 
ing were  barely  uttered,  when  the  savages,  concealed  behind 
the  sand  ridge,  poured  a  deadly  volley  into  the  close  ranks 
of  the  troops.  Totally  surprised,  and  for  the  instant  almost 
panic-stricken,  the  dead  and  wounded  lying  at  their  feet, 
the  officers  succeeding  in  holding  their  men  in  something 
like  order,  swung  them  into  hasty  battle  line,  and,  with 
inspiriting  cheers,  led  them  in  impetuous  charge  against 
their  concealed  assailants.  At  the  summit  of  the  sand  ridge, 
they  were  met  with  so  hot  a  fire,  they  were  barely  able  to 
hold  their  position.  A  number  fell,  including  one  veteran 
soldier  of  seventy  years.  The  action  became  fierce  and 
general,  rapidly  extending  down  the  entire  line.  The 
Miamis  fled  with  almost  the  first  fire,  their  chief  pausing 
barely  long  enough  to  hurl  his  defiance  at  the  Pottawatto- 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  FORT  DEARBORN         235 

mies  before  joining  his  cowardly  companions.  The 
troops,  although  poorly  prepared  for  battle,  fought  with 
great  gallantry,  forcing  at  first  the  savages  in  their  front  to 
give  way,  and  gaining  a  foothold  on  the  open  prairie  beyond 
the  sand  ridge.  But  they  were  soon  overwhelmed  by  the 
numbers  hurled  against  them.  The  Indians  outflanked 
their  short  line,  and  in  less  than  fifteen  minutes  from  the 
first  attack  had  gained  possession  of  the  horses,  with  the 
provisions  and  baggage  wagons.  Here  commenced  their 
murderous  work  upon  the  helpless  women  and  children. 

At  once  it  became  a  terrible  scene,  seldom  equalled  in  all 
the  bloody  annals  of  the  frontier.  Dr.  Van  Voorhees,  who 
had  been  wounded  at  the  first  fire,  was,  while  in  a  paroxysm 
of  fear,  cut  down  by  the  blow  of  a  tomahawk.  Ensign  Ronan, 
although  mortally  wounded,  continued  to  struggle  bravely 
against  a  powerful  savage  who  had  seized  him,  until  he  finally 
sank  beneath  the  cruel  thrust  of  a  knife.  The  young  wife 
of  Lieutenant  Helm  was  attacked  by  a  savage,  who  sought 
desperately  to  cleave  her  skull.  Springing  aside  quickly, 
the  blow  merely  grazed  her  shoulder,  and  in  self-defence 
she  wound  her  arms  tightly  about  his  neck.  In  the  midst 
of  the  struggle  which  ensued,  another  Indian  grasped  and 
forcibly  bore  her  away,  plunging  her  into  the  water  of  the 
lake,  and  held  her  firmly  down,  almost  concealed  from 
sight.  Discovering  that  he  had  no  immediate  intention  of 
drowning  her,  she  ventured  to  look  up,  and,  through  his 
disguise  of  paint  and  war  feathers,  recognized  the  well- 
known  face  of  the  friendly  young  chief,  Black  Partridge, 
whom  she  had  known  from  childhood.  As  the  fierce  ntil'ee 
began  to  slacken,  he  bore  her  safe  to  the  shore,  and  pro- 
tected her  from  the  others.  The  wife  of  one  of  the  soldiers 
fought  with  such  desperation  that  she  was  literally  cut  to 
pieces,  and  her  mangled  remains  were  left  on  the  field. 
Mrs.  Heald  also  fought  for  her  life  like  a  heroine,  and  re- 
ceived several  wounds.  After  she  had  been  captured,  a 


236  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

savage  assailed  her  with  his  tomahawk,  but  she  was  saved 
by  the  interposition  of  a  friendly  chief. 

Scattered  by  the  fierce  fire,  their  formation  broken, 
their  officers  wounded  or  dead,  the  troops  fought  bravely 
until  only  twenty-seven  out  of  sixty-six  remained,  when, 
on  receiving  pledge  of  protection,  the  helpless  remnant 
surrendered.  Scarcely  had  they  ceased  resistance  when  a 
brutal  savage  assailed  one  of  the  unprotected  baggage- 
wagons,  and  twelve  children  fell  beneath  his  murderous 
tomahawk.  Captain  Wells,  maddened  at  the  awful  sight, 
shouted,  "  If  that  is  your  game,  I  can  kill  too  !  "  and 
instantly  breaking  away  from  his  guards,  rode  furiously 
toward  the  Pottawattomie  camp,  where  the  Indian  squaws 
and  children  were.  For  a  brief  time  in  his  swift  flight,  he 
succeeded  in  avoiding  the  deadly  aims  of  the  pursuing 
savages,  by  lying  prone  on  his  horse's  neck,  but  finally  the 
animal  was  killed,  and  the  rider  once  more  made  a  prisoner. 
Winnemeg  and  Wabansee,  both  of  whom  were  friendly 
to  the  whites,  interceded  to  save  his  life,  but  Peesotum, 
a  Pottawattomie  chief,  gave  him  his  death-blow,  by  a  stab 
in  the  back.  His  body  was  terribly  mutilated,  the  heart 
being  cut  out  and  torn  in  pieces,  for  distribution  among  the 
tribes  as  a  token  of  bravery.  On  the  following  day,  Billy 
Caldwell,  a  half-breed  Wyandot,  gathered  up  the  scattered 
fragments  of  his  body,  and  gave  them  decent  burial  in  the 
sand.  Wells  Street,  in  Chicago,  perpetuates  his  name. 

So  ended  the  unequal  struggle,  the  total  Indian  loss  not 
exceeding  fifteen,  while  of  the  whites,  twenty-six  infantry- 
men, twelve  settlers,  two  women,  and  twelve  children  were 
killed.  Captain  and  Mrs.  Heald,  Lieutenant  and  Mrs. 
Helm,  with  twenty-five  non-commissioned  officers  and 
privates,  besides  eleven  women  and  children,  were  made 
prisoners.  Of  these,  more  than  half  were  wounded,  many 
seriously.  Unfortunately,  in  the  hurry  and  excitement  of 
the  moment,  the  wounded  were  not  particularly  referred 


THE  TRAGEDT  AT  FORT  DEARBORN         237 

to  in  the  stipulation  of  surrender.  This  was  immediately 
taken  advantage  of  by  the  treacherous  savages.  Such 
helpless  sufferers,  on  being  conveyed  to  the  Pottawattomie 
camp,  were  regarded  as  proper  subjects  for  the  most  savage 
and  cowardly  brutality,  and  several  were  given  over  to  tor- 
ture, while  during  the  night  following  the  battle,  five  were 
tomahawked. 

In  this  connection,  the  recollections  of  Mrs.  Helm,  as 
afterwards  recorded  in  a  book  written  by  Mrs.  John  Kin- 
zie,  are  particularly  graphic.  Saved,  as  narrated,  by  Black 
Partridge,  she  was  conducted  from  the  water  to  the  sandy 
beach.  It  was  a  hot  August  day,  and  walking  through 
the  loose  sand  in  her  drenched  condition  became  inexpres- 
sibly painful.  She  stopped,  and  took  off  her  shoes  to  free 
them  from  the  sand,  when  a  squaw  seized  and  carried  them 
off,  compelling  her  to  limp  along  without  them.  When 
they  finally  gained  the  prairie,  she  was  met  by  her  father, 
who  brought  her  the  good  news  that  her  husband  was  safe, 
and  but  slightly  wounded.  Arriving  at  the  wigwams,  Mrs. 
Helm  saw  the  wife  of  Wau-bee-nee-mah,  a  chief  from  the 
Illinois  River,  standing  near.  Seeing  her  exhausted  con- 
dition, this  squaw  seized  a  kettle,  dipped  up  some  water 
from  a  stream  close  at  hand,  threw  into  it  some  maple  sugar, 
and  stirring  it  up  with  her  hand,  offered  it  to  the  lady  to 
drink.  This  unexpected  act  of  kindness  touched  her  deeply, 
but  her  attention  was  soon  directed  toward  another  matter. 
The  fort  had  become  a  scene  of  plunder  ;  the  cattle  were 
shot  down  as  they  ran  at  large,  and  now  lay  dead  or  dying 
around.  Suddenly  an  old  squaw,  infuriated  by  the  sight 
of  so  much  blood,  grasped  a  stable-fork,  and  assaulted  a 
wounded  soldier,  who  lay  groaning  and  writhing  in  agony 
under  the  heat  of  the  sun.  With  delicacy  of  feeling  hardly 
to  be  expected  at  such  a  time  and  place,  Wau-bee-nee-mah 
stretched  a  mat  across  two  poles,  so  as  to  hide  this  dreadful 
scene  from  Mrs.  Helm. 


238  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

In  the  battle,  Captain  Heald  had  received  two  wounds, 
and  his  wife  seven.  Her  captor,  being  about  to  pull  off  her 
bonnet  so  as  to  scalp  her,  young  Chaudonnaire,  an  Indian 
of  the  St.  Joseph  tribe,  who  knew  her,  came  to  the  rescue, 
and  offered  a  mule  he  had  just  taken,  for  her  ransom,  to 
which  he  added  ten  bottles  of  whiskey.  The  latter  tempta- 
tion was  too  strong  to  be  resisted.  Captain  Heald  was  made 
prisoner  by  an  Indian  from  the  Kankakee  River,  who,  seeing 
the  pitiable  condition  of  Mrs.  Heald,  generously  released 
his  captive,  that  he  might  accompany  his  wife.  Chaudon- 
naire, with  some  others,  placed  both  in  a  bark  canoe,  which 
a  Pottawattomie  chief  paddled  for  three  hundred  miles 
along  the  eastern  coast  of  Lake  Michigan  until  they  reached 
Mackinac,  where  they  were  kindly  received  by  the  British 
commander,  and  on  being  sent  to  Detroit  were  exchanged. 
Mrs.  Helm  received  a  slight  wound  in  her  ankle,  besides 
having  her  horse  shot  under  her,  and,  after  passing  through 
the  scenes  already  described,  was  permitted  to  accompany 
the  family  of  her  step-father,  Mr.  Kinzie,  to  Detroit,  they 
being  spared  from  the  threatened  general  massacre  by  the 
intervention  of  Billy  Caldwell,  Black  Partridge,  and  other 
friendly  chiefs.  Her  husband  was  taken  to  the  Au  Sable, 
thence  to  St.  Louis,  and  finally  liberated  by  the  aid  of  Thomas 
Forsythe,  then  Indian  agent  at  Peoria.  The  other  captive 
soldiers,  with  their  wives  and  children,  were  dispersed 
among  the  tribes  along  the  Illinois  and  Wabash  Rivers, 
some  few  among  them  being  sent  north  along  the  lake 
shore.  The  majority  were  ransomed  at  Detroit  the  follow- 
ing Spring,  although  a  number  remained  in  captivity  for 
another  year,  but  were  not  unkindly  treated. 

And  all  this  took  place  within  the  very  business  limits 
of  what  is  now  Chicago.  At  the  foot  of  Eighteenth  Street, 
marking  the  probable  site  of  this  sanguinary  contest,  stands 
the  beautiful  memorial  monument,  a  representation  of  the 
saving  of  Mrs.  Helm  by  Black  Partridge.  Close  at  hand 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  FORT  DEARBORN         239 

are  palatial  residences,  while  all  about  are  the  evidences 
of  modern  wealth  and  refinement.  Standing  there  now, 
and  dreaming  of  the  past,  one  can  scarcely  realize  the  awful 
scene  of  that  fifteenth  of  August,  1812,  when  this  frontier 
tragedy  was  enacted  —  when  men,  women,  and  little  children 
went  down  to  death  together  beside  the  unruffled  waters 
of  the  lake.  It  makes  a  grim  foundation-stone  upon  which 
to  build  a  mighty  city,  nor  should  it  be  forgotten  by  the 
citizens  in  the  passing  years. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

ILLINOIS   IN   WAR   OF    1812 

SANGUINARY  and  ominous  in  Illinois  history  as  was 
the  opening  of  the  War  of  1812,  the  events  following 
were  far  less  dramatic.  At  that  time  constituting  the  far 
frontier,  sparsely  settled  in  its  southern  portion,  the  re- 
mainder of  it  a  mere  wilderness,  Illinois  remained  untouched 
by  the  main  forces  of  both  sides.  Indian  fighting  and 
massacre,  with  constant  alarm  along  the  border,  was  the 
portion  borne  by  Illinois  settlers,  and  while  their  Eastern 
comrades  were  battling  manfully  along  the  coast,  and  amid 
the  snows  of  Canada,  or  earning  the  plaudits  of  the  world 
upon  the  sea,  the  hardy  frontiersmen  of  the  Ohio  and  the 
Mississippi  were  struggling  to  hold  their  own  against  a  sav- 
age, skulking,  relentless  foe. 

The  beginning  was  prompt,  for  immediately  following 
the  massacre  at  Chicago,  British  representatives  descended 
the  Mississippi  River  as  far  as  Rock  Island,  and  making 
that  their  headquarters,  began  distributing  loads  of  goods  as 
presents  among  the  Indians,  the  special  agent  employed 
being  one  Girty.  To  clear  the  West  of  such  enemies  and  re- 
venge the  Fort  Dearborn  disaster,  two  thousand  volunteers 
assembled  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  under  command  of  Gen- 
eral Hopkins.  October  14,  1812,  this  little  army  crossed  the 
Wabash  near  Vincennes,  and  began  its  march  over  the 
prairies  of  Illinois.  It  was  an  ill-disciplined  body  of  volun- 
teers. The  country  traversed  abounded  with  wild  game, 
and  no  orders  issued  by  the  officers  could  prevent  the  men 
from  constantly  firing.  Their  insubordination  increased 
with  the  difficulties  of  the  march.  In  this  manner  they 

240 


ILLINOIS  IN  WAR  OF  1812  241 

succeeded  in  getting  some  eighty  or  ninety  miles  within 
the  Indian  country,  when  they  encountered  a  large  prairie 
fire,  and  became  at  once  frantically  alarmed  for  their  own 
safety.  In  spite  of  the  remonstrance  of  their  General  and 
the  efforts  of  their  officers,  they  at  once  turned  about  and 
returned  to  their  homes,  without  so  much  as  striking  a  blow, 
or  even  coming  within  sight  of  the  enemy.  This  constituted 
one  of  the  most  ignominious  failures  recorded  in  Western 
history. 

Meanwhile  other  movements  were  being  planned  else- 
where. Governor  Edwards  collected  a  body  of  Illinois 
frontiersmen,  three  hundred  and  fifty  strong,  at  Camp 
Russell,  near  the  site  of  Edwardsville,  in  Madison  County, 
then  the  most  advanced  of  the  border  settlements.  These 
were  organized  as  mounted  riflemen,  and  were  soon  reen- 
forced  by  Colonel  Russell  with  three  companies  of  United 
States  Rangers.  These  troops  moved  almost  directly  north 
toward  the  Illinois  River,  expecting  to  cooperate  with  Hop- 
kins's  column,  then  reported  as  advancing  from  the  East. 
Disappointed  at  the  retreat  of  the  latter,  Edwards's  men 
nevertheless  persevered  in  their  enterprise,  and  succeeded 
in  destroying  one  of  the  Indian  towns,  pursuing  the  fright- 
ened savages  into  a  swamp,  and  killing  about  twenty  of 
them.  The  whites,  who  were  the  assailants,  had  but  one 
slightly  wounded.  Their  subsequent  retreat  to  the  protec- 
tion of  the  settlements,  however,  was  reported  as  being 
extremely  rapid. 

Early  in  the  year  1813,  the  country  was  placed  in  such 
state  of  defence  as  was  possible  with  so  sparse  a  population. 
Block-house  stations  and  stockade  forts  were  repaired  along 
the  entire  frontier,  and  the  more  remote  settlers  and  feebler 
garrisons  were  removed  to  the  better-defended  settlements. 
New  companies  of  rangers  were  organized,  and  so  distrib- 
uted as  to  patrol  the  frontier  thoroughly.  From  the  present 
Alton  to  Kaskaskia,  twenty-two  family  forts  were  scattered 


242  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

along,  yet  even  this  was  insufficient  to  keep  out  all  Indian 
marauding  parties.  Breaking  through  these  lines  of  guard, 
savages  fell  upon  the  family  of  a  Mr.  Lively,  living  four 
miles  southeast  of  Covington,  in  the  present  Washington 
County,  and  slew  four.  The  bodies  of  the  two  women  were 
shockingly  mangled ;  a  little  boy  of  seven  years  was  borne 
away  from  the  house,  and  his  head  severed  from  his  body. 
The  body  of  Mr.  Lively  was  also  mutilated.  A  son, 
and  a  stranger  who  was  stopping  there,  were  out  on  the 
prairie  in  quest  of  their  horses,  and  from  a  distance  wit- 
nessed the  attack  on  the  house.  During  their  retreat  to 
the  nearest  settlement,  they  made  camp  in  a  grove  six  miles 
southeast  of  Fayetteville,  along  the  banks  of  the  Kaskaskia 
River,  which  perpetuates  the  name  of  the  murdered  family. 
Captain  Bond's  company  of  Rangers  at  once  took  up  the 
pursuit,  but  as  the  Indians  had  had  four  days'  start,  they 
easily  escaped.  On  the  banks  of  the  Kaskaskia,  near  the 
present  town  of  Carlyle,  a  Mr.  Young  and  a  minister  named 
McLean  had  a  desperate  encounter  with  a  party  of  savages. 
Mr.  Young  and  both  horses  were  killed,  and  McLean,  who 
was  unarmed,  escaped  by  plunging  into  the  river  and  swim- 
ming to  the  other  shore.  Several  murders  were  committed 
on  Cache  River,  in  the  present  Alexander  County.  On  the 
Wabash,  thirty  miles  above  Vincennes,  near  Fort  Lamotte, 
the  wife  of  a  Mr.  Houston  and  four  children  were  killed. 
On  a  small  prairie,  two  or  three  miles  from  the  present  town 
of  Albion,  in  Edwards  County,  a  settler  named  Boltenhouse 
was  slain.  The  prairie  on  which  he  lived  still  bears  his 
name. 

Meanwhile  another  expedition  northward  was  projected. 
Large  numbers  of  hostile  Indians  were  known  to  be  gathered 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Peoria  Lake,  whence  marauding 
parties  were  despatched  to  harass  the  exposed  settlements 
of  both  Illinois  and  Missouri.  A  joint  expedition  from 
these  two  sections  was  therefore  organized  to  penetrate  this 


ILLINOIS  IN  fTJR   OF  1812  243 

Indian  stronghold  and  break  it  up.  Some  nine  hundred 
men  were  collected,  and  General  Howard,  of  the  United 
States  Army,  given  command.  The  Illinois  troops  ren- 
dezvoused at  Camp  Russell,  and  marched  up  the  Mississippi 
by  companies,  as  far  as  the  Illinois,  which  they  crossed 
some  two  or  three  miles  above  its  mouth.  The  movement 
was  slow  ;  in  Calhoun  County,  attracted  by  bee-trees, 
several  rangers  wandered  away  from  the  main  column  and 
got  into  a  skirmish  with  Indians,  but  escaped  with  no 
more  serious  injury  than  the  smashing  of  a  gun-stock  by  a 
bullet.  Meanwhile,  the  Missourians  marched  a  hundred 
miles  north  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi  to  Fort  Madi- 
son, where  they  swam  the  river,  mounted  naked  on  their 
horses,  while  their  clothing  was  rafted  across  on  a  platform 
upborne  by  two  canoes.  This  latter  force  was  under  com- 
mand of  Colonel  McNair,  afterwards  Governor  of  Missouri. 
The  troops,  uniting  together,  continued  their  march  up 
the  Mississippi.  Near  the  site  of  Quincy,  they  passed  a 
recently  deserted  Indian  village,  which  apparently  had 
contained  not  far  from  a  thousand  Sac  warriors.  Reaching 
a  point  called  Two  Rivers,  they  struck  out  directly  eastward, 
across  the  open  prairies,  toward  the  Illinois,  which  they 
reached  near  the  mouth  of  Spoon  River.  Here  their  pro- 
visions boat  joined  them,  and  took  on  board  the  sick.  The 
slow  march  was  continued  up  the  banks  of  the  Illinois  as 
far  as  Peoria,  where  there  was  a  small  stockade,  probably 
built  on  the  bluff  near  the  straits,  in  charge  of  Captain 
Nicholas,  of  the  United  States  Army.  Two  days  before, 
the  Indians  had  made  an  attack  here,  but  had  been  repulsed. 
All  the  way  along  since  leaving  the  Mississippi,  the  troops 
had  crossed  fresh  trails,  from  which  they  inferred  that  the 
savages,  alarmed  at  their  advance,  were  fleeing  northward. 
Yet  at  no  time  did  they  obtain  sight  of  any  hostiles. 

The  invading  army  was  marched  up  the  lake  as  far  as 
Gomo's  village,  on  the  site  of  Chillicothe,  but  found  the 


244  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

enemy  already  flown.  The  deserted  village  was  reduced 
to  ashes,  and  the  troops  began  retracing  their  steps.  At 
the  outlet  of  the  lake,  where  Peoria  is  situated,  they  remained 
in  camp  several  weeks,  building  Fort  Clark.  Major  Christy, 
with  two  fortified  keel-boats,  was  despatched  up  the  river 
as  far  as  the  rapids,  while  Major  Boone  was  sent  up  Spoon 
River  to  scour  the  country  toward  the  valley  of  the  Rock. 
Neither  saw  anything  of  the  enemy,  except  deserted  villages. 
The  army  then  returned  by  direct  trail  to  Camp  Russell, 
where  it  was  disbanded.  This  campaign,  although  bloodless, 
was  well  conducted,  and  was  of  great  benefit  to  the  frontier, 
which  was,  in  consequence,  spared  from  Indian  raids  during 
all  of  the  following  Winter. 

But  1814  opened  with  horrible  Indian  atrocities.  Our 
naval  victories  on  Lake  Erie,  the  recovery  of  Detroit,  together 
with  the  defeat  of  the  British  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames, 
where  Tecumseh  fell,  caused  the  savages  to  retreat  from 
Canada  and  concentrate  in  large  numbers  along  the  upper 
banks  of  the  Mississippi,  whence  marauding  parties  swept 
swiftly  down  upon  the  exposed  Illinois  settlements.  Space 
can  be  taken  to  mention  but  a  very  few  of  the  well  authen- 
ticated incidents  that  occurred  at  this  time,  as  reported 
by  Davidson  and  Stuve  and  Ford  and  Reynolds.  In  July, 
a  band  of  savages,  raiding  the  Wood  River  settlements, 
six  miles  east  of  the  present  Alton,  massacred  a  Mrs.  Reagan 
with  her  six  children.  The  husband  and  father,  being 
absent  at  the  time,  was  the  first  to  discover  the  slaughter. 
Reaching  home  at  nightfall  and  opening  the  door  of  his 
cabin,  he  stepped  into  the  blood  of  his  loved  family  and 
beheld  their  stark  and  mangled  remains.  Captain  Samuel 
Whiteside,  with  his  company  of  Rangers,  at  once  took  up 
pursuit,  following  the  savages  closely  as  far  as  the  Sangamon, 
where  all  succeeded  in  escaping,  amid  a  dense  thicket, 
excepting  the  chief,  who  was  shot  dead  out  of  a  tree-top. 
At  his  belt  was  dangling  the  scalp  of  Mrs.  Reagan.  In  the 


ILLINOIS  IN  WAR  OF  1812  245 

western  part  of  Clinton  County,  where  the  Ohio  and  Missis- 
sippi Railroad  now  crosses  a  stream,  Jesse  Bailes  and  wife 
were  out  one  Sunday  evening,  looking  for  some  stray  stock  in 
the  creek  bottom.  The  dogs  baying  at  a  thicket,  it  was  sup- 
posed the  fugitives  were  found,  but  on  approaching  closer 
they  were  fired  upon  by  Indians  concealed  within.  Mrs. 
Bailes  was  shot  down,  and  died  shortly  after.  In  August, 
while  a  company  of  Captain  Short's  Rangers  were  encamped 
at  the  Lively  cabin,  they  discovered  a  trail  which,  being  fol- 
lowed, led  to  the  starting  up  of  a  party  of  seven  Indians  with 
fourteen  stolen  horses.  Following  these,  a  skirmish  resulted 
in  which  the  whites  were  worsted,  one  man  being  wounded, 
another  saved  from  death  by  a  twist  of  tobacco  in  his  pocket, 
and  a  horse  killed.  William  Stout  made  a  swift  ride  to 
camp  for  reinforcements.  Captain  Short,  with  thirty  men, 
at  once  started  on  the  trail,  following  it  all  night,  and  the 
next  morning  overtook  the  savages  on  a  fork  of  the  Little 
Wabash.  On  discovering  the  whites,  the  Indians  at  once 
prepared  for  battle,  assured,  no  doubt,  by  their  former 
victory,  and  not  realizing  the  force  opposing  them.  They 
were  soon  surrounded,  and  upon  discovering  their  situation, 
sang  their  death-songs,  shouted  defiance,  and  fought  bravely 
to  the  end.  All  were  killed.  The  only  white  man  who  fell 
was  William  O'Neal. 

On  August  21,  1814,  occurred  the  most  desperate  single- 
handed  combat  ever  fought  on  the  soil  of  Illinois.  A  little 
fort,  or  block-house,  had  been  erected  about  twenty  miles 
from  Vandalia,  and  some  eight  miles  south  of  the  present 
town  of  Greenville.  It  was  considered  an  important  point, 
and  Lieutenant  Journey  and  eleven  men  were  stationed  there 
as  garrison.  Governor  Reynolds's  account  of  what  occurred 
there  is  as  follows: 

44  Among  these  Rangers  was  Tom  Higgins,  a  young  fellow  of 
twenty-five,  of  muscular  and  compact  build,  not  tall,  but  strong 
and  active.  Discovering  Indian  signs  near  the  fort,  the  company 


246  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

early  the  next  morning  started  out  to  investigate.  They  had  not 
gone  far  when  they  were  fired  upon  from  ambush  by  a  much  larger 
party.  At  this  first  fire,  the  commander,  Journey,  and  three  men 
fell.  Six  immediately  retreated  toward  the  fort,  but  Higgins 
stopped  l  to  have  another  pull  at  the  red-skins,'  and  taking  deliber- 
ate aim  at  an  approaching  savage,  shot  him  down.  Higgins's  horse 
had  been  wounded,  he  supposed  mortally ;  but  coming  to,  he  was 
about  to  effect  his  escape  when  he  heard  the  familiar  voice  of  a 
comrade  named  Burgess  calling  to  him  from  the  long  grass,  l  Tom, 
don't  leave  me  !  '  Higgins  told  him  to  come  along,  but  Burgess 
replied  that  his  leg  was  smashed,  so  that  he  could  not  move. 
Higgins  immediately  dismounted ;  but  in  attempting  to  raise  the 
wounded  man  on  the  horse,  the  animal  took  fright  and  ran  off, 
leaving  them  both  behind.  c  This  is  too  bad,'  said  Higgins,  c  but 
don't  fear ;  move  off  as  well  as  you  can,  and  I  '11  stay  behind  and 
keep  back  the  Indians.  Get  into  the  tall  grass,  and  crawl  as  near 
the  ground  as  possible.'  Burgess  did  so,  and  succeeded  in  thus 
getting  away  unobserved. 

"It  would  have  been  much  easier  and  safer  for  Higgins  to 
follow  the  same  plan,  but  believing  if  he  did  so  it  would  endanger 
his  friend,  the  gallant  fellow  chose  a  different  direction,  endeavor- 
ing to  conceal  himself  within  a  thicket.  A  moment  later,  he 
discovered  a  stout  savage  near  by,  with  two  others  approaching. 
He  immediately  started  for  a  small  ravine,  hoping  thus  to  separate 
the  party,  and  permit  him  to  fight  them  one  at  a  time.  In  this 
attempt  at  retreat,  he  was  horrified  to  find  one  of  his  legs  fail  him, 
he  having  been  wounded  in  the  first  encounter,  without  before 
realizing  it.  The  larger  of  the  pursuing  Indians  pressing  him 
closely,  Higgins  endeavored  to  get  a  shot  at  him,  but  the  wily 
savage  at  once  halted,  and  danced  about  so  it  was  impossible  to 
obtain  sure  aim.  He  then  resolved  to  take  his  chances,  and  permit 
the  Indian  to  have  the  first  shot.  The  savage  raised  his  rifle,  and 
Higgins,  intently  watching  the  fellow's  eye,  wheeled  suddenly  as  he 
pulled  the  trigger,  and  received  the  ball  in  his  thigh.  He  fell  to  the 
ground,  staggered  to  his  feet  again,  receiving  the  fire  of  the  two 
others,  and  once  more  fell,  this  time  severely  wounded.  The 
Indians,  now  feeling  certain  of  their  victim,  flung  aside  their  empty 
guns,  and  rushed  eagerly  toward  him,  spears  and  knives  in  hand. 


ILLINOIS  IN  WAR   OF  1812  247 

Lying  there  almost  helpless  on  the  ground,  the  wounded  man  suc- 
ceeded for  a  short  time  in  holding  them  back  by  aiming  first  at  one 
and  then  another  as  they  approached.  As  he  did  not  fire,  the 
heavier  Indian  came  to  the  conclusion  his  gun  must  be  empty,  and 
was  advancing  boldly  when  Higgins  shot,  and  the  savage  fell  dead. 

"It  was  by  now  a  most  desperate  situation.  The  undaunted 
Ranger  lay  helpless  on  the  ground,  his  gun  empty,  and  four  bullets 
in  his  body.  About  him  circled  two  Indians  unharmed,  while  a 
large  party  of  others  were  in  a  ravine  only  a  few  steps  away.  Yet 
even  then  Higgins  did  not  despair,  and  when  the  two  Indians  rushed 
upon  him,  raising  the  war-whoop  as  they  came,  a  fierce  and  bloody 
conflict  ensued.  They  inflicted  upon  him  numerous  flesh-wounds, 
but,  fortunately,  none  of  these  were  deep,  as  their  spears  were  only 
thin  poles,  hastily  prepared  for  the  occasion,  and  bent  whenever 
they  struck  a  rib  or  muscle.  At  last  one  of  the  savages  flung  his 
tomahawk,  which  struck  Higgins  on  the  cheek,  severing  his  ear, 
laying  bare  his  skull  to  the  back  of  his  head,  and  stretching  him 
out  upon  the  prairie.  Again  the  two  Indians  rushed  at  him,  but 
the  Ranger  kept  them  off  with  his  feet.  Getting  hold  of  one  of 
their  spears,  the  Indian,  in  attempting  to  pull  it  from  him,  raised 
Higgins  up  from  the  ground,  when  with  one  blow  of  his  rifle  he 
dashed  out  the  savage's  brains,  but  broke  his  gun,  the  barrel  only 
remaining  in  his  hand.  The  other  Indian  now  attempted  to  stab 
the  exhausted  man  with  his  knife,  but  Higgins  succeeded  in  warding 
off"  the  blows,  and  the  savage  gradually  fell  back  from  before  the 
glare  of  his  untamed  eye,  evidently  seeking  to  reach  the  spot  where 
his  discarded  rifle  was  lying.  Higgins  knew  that  if  the  fellow  once 
recovered  that,  his  case  would  be  hopeless.  Drawing  his  hunting- 
knife,  and  summoning  every  remaining  power  to  his  aid,  he  stag- 
gered forward  and  closed  with  his  foe.  A  most  desperate  struggle 
followed,  during  which  deep  gashes  were  inflicted  on  both  sides. 
Faint  and  completely  exhausted  by  loss  of  blood,  the  battling 
Ranger  was  no  longer  a  match  for  his  adversary,  who  succeeded  in 
throwing  him  off,  and  at  once  started  for  his  rifle.  To  add  to  his 
despair,  the  main  body  of  Indians  could  now  be  seen  advancing 
toward  him  from  out  the  ravine,  and  Higgins  gave  himself  up  for 
lost. 

"  Almost  the  whole  of  this  unequal  contest  had  been  witnessed 


248  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

from  the  fort.  But,  not  knowing  how  many  Indians  were  in  the 
party,  the  little  garrison  were  fearful  of  venturing  forth  in  rescue. 
At  this  moment  Mrs.  Pursley,  the  wife  of  one  of  the  Rangers, 
urged  them  to  make  the  attempt,  but  failed  to  get  the  men  to 
comply.  Exasperated  at  their  refusal,  she  taunted  them  with 
cowardice,  snatched  her  husband's  rifle  from  out  his  hand,  and 
declaring  that  so  fine  a  fellow  as  Tom  Higgins  should  not  be  lost 
for  want  of  help,  mounted  a  horse  and  rode  out  alone.  The 
Rangers,  being  thus  shamed  galloped  hastily  after  her,  reached  the 
spot  where  Higgins  had  fallen  and  fainted,  and,  before  the  main 
body  of  Indians  came  up,  succeeded  in  bearing  their  wounded 
companion  in  safety  to  the  fort.  For  several  days  his  life  was 
despaired  of.  In  the  absence  of  a  surgeon,  they  extracted  two  of 
the  balls,  and  a  third  Higgins  subsequently,  with  his  usual  hardi- 
hood, cut  out  himself  with  a  razor.  The  fourth  he  carried  with 
him  to  his  grave.  Open-hearted,  generous,  and  brave,  this  noble 
specimen  of  borderman  finally  recovered,  and  survived  to  a  great 
age,  honored  and  respected  by  all  who  knew  him." 

During  this  same  year  on  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi, 
just  above  Rock  Island,  occurred  one  of  the  most  gallant  ac- 
tions recorded  in  the  annals  of  the  West,  or,  indeed,  in  the 
entire  history  of  warfare.  General  Howard,  who  still  re- 
mained in  military  command  of  this  department,  desired 
to  strengthen  a  small  garrison  then  stationed  at  Prairie  du 
Chien,  in  what  is  now  Wisconsin.  With  this  purpose  in 
mind,  he  despatched  reinforcements  to  the  number  of  one 
hundred  and  eight  men,  under  command  of  Lieutenant 
Campbell  of  the  regular  army,  in  three  keel-boats,  up  the 
river.  Of  this  force,  sixty-six  men  were  Illinois  Rangers 
under  Captains  Stephen  Rector  and  Riggs,  who  occupied 
two  of  the  boats.  The  remainder  of  the  party  were  with 
Campbell  in  the  third  boat.  Arriving  at  Rock  Island,  they 
remained  there  unmolested  for  one  night,  camping  near  the 
foot  of  the  island,  but  the  next  day,  at  the  bottom  of  the 
rapids  just  above,  great  numbers  of  the  Sac  and  Fox  Indians 
came  out  in  their  canoes  to  the  boats,  the  savages  making 


ttl 

— 

Cu 


o 

fc, 

o 

H 
CJ 

« 
CU 


UJ 


ILLINOIS  IN  WAR  OF  1812  249 

many  professions  of  friendship.  Several  of  the  French 
boatmen,  who  were  employed  at  the  paddles,  were  known 
to  these  Indians,  and  well  liked.  The  visitors  endeavored 
to  warn  these  that  there  was  danger  ahead,  by  squeezing 
their  hands  with  a  pull  down  the  river,  thus  plainly  indicat- 
ing that  it  would  be  well  for  them  to  leave  in  that  direction. 
Believing  an  attack  on  the  flotilla  was  planned,  several  of 
these  Frenchmen  spoke  to  Lieutenant  Campbell  in  warning, 
but,  feeling  confident  in  the  number  of  his  force,  and  not 
being  greatly  accustomed  to  Indian  warfare,  that  officer 
disregarded  these  indefinite  suspicions,  and  ordered  the 
savages  to  leave,  commanding  the  boats  to  press  forward 
against  the  swift  current.  The  sutler's  and  contractor's 
barges,  with  the  two  boats  containing  the  Illinois  Rangers, 
succeeded  in  working  safely  past  the  more  dangerous  rapids, 
and  had  arrived  at  a  point  some  two  miles  ahead  of  the  others, 
when  Campbell's  barge  was  suddenly  struck  by  a  fierce  gale 
of  wind  tearing  down  from  the  west,  across  the  wide  waters, 
so  strong  as  to  force  it  almost  helpless  against  a  small  island 
which  lay  not  far  from  the  Illinois  shore.  Believing  it  would 
prove  safer  to  remain  sheltered  there  until  the  really  danger- 
ous wind-storm  abated,  he  immediately  stationed  sentinels 
at  the  edge  of  the  wood,  while  some  of  the  men  went  ashore 
to  cook  breakfast.  Scarcely  had  the  fires  been  lighted  under 
the  camp-kettles,  when  a  large  body  of  Indians,  under  com- 
mand of  Black  Hawk,  who  had  been  lying  concealed  along 
the  main  shore,  waiting  some  such  opportunity,  commenced 
a  fierce  attack.  Springing  into  a  number  of  canoes  made 
ready  for  just  such  an  emergency,  the  hordes  of  savages 
passed  rapidly  across  the  narrow  water-way  between  the 
mainland  and  the  island,  and,  giving  vent  to  the  war-whoop, 
rushed  out  of  the  forest  upon  the  few  disembarked  men, 
driving  them  on  a  run  back  to  the  protection  of  the  barge. 
The  surprise  was  complete,  several  falling  before  they  could 
rejoin  their  companions.  Immediately  the  battle  burst 


250  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

forth  in  fury,  a  brisk  fire  of  musketry  being  exchanged 
between  the  few  regulars  partially  protected  aboard  the 
stranded  barge  and  the  hordes  of  Indians  who  had  immedi- 
ately taken  shelter  behind  the  trees  on  the  island.  Mean- 
while, Captains  Rector  and  Riggs,  ahead  with  their  boats, 
which  were  tossing  on  the  storm-lashed  river,  seeing  the 
smoke  of  battle  and  hearing  the  distant  report  of  guns,  en- 
deavored to  return,  but  so  strong  was  the  fierce  gale  which 
buffeted  them,  that  Riggs's  boat  became  utterly  unmanage- 
able, and  finally  stranded  helplessly  on  the  rapids.  Rector, 
endeavoring  to  avoid  a  similar  disaster,  which  seemed  inev- 
itable, let  go  his  anchor.  The  anxious  Rangers,  however, 
were  by  this  time  within  long  range  of  the  scene  of  action, 
and  they  at  once  opened  with  their  rifles  on  the  distant  sav- 
ages, forcing  them  to  fall  backward  somewhat  from  the 
shore. 

In  this  way  the  unequal  conflict  raged  for  considerable 
time,  the  exposed  occupants  of  the  stranded  barge  suffering 
severely,  but  totally  unable  to  get  away  from  the  bank. 
Finally,  with  numerous  wounded  and  several  dead  on  board, 
among  whom  Campbell  himself  was  very  badly  hurt,  defens- 
ive firing  had  almost  ceased,  when  the  boat  was  discovered 
to  be  on  fire.  Far  out  in  the  stream,  the  distant  Rangers  saw 
the  smoke  and  understood  the  meaning.  It  was  at  this 
desperate  juncture  when  Stephen  Rector  and  his  gallant 
crew  of  Illinoisans,  comprehending  the  horrible  situation 
of  their  helpless  comrades,  performed  as  cool  and  heroic  a 
deed  as  ever  imperilled  the  life  of  man.  Deliberately,  in  the 
teeth  of  that  howling  gale,  in  full  view  of  hundreds  of  infu- 
riated savages  lining  the  near-by  shore,  and  within  easy 
range  of  their  deadly  rifles,  these  frontier  heroes  raised 
their  anchor,  lightened  their  barge  by  casting  overboard 
nearly  all  their  stock  of  provisions,  and  then  guided  it  with 
the  utmost  labor  and  amid  tremendous  danger  down  that 
madly  racing  current,  actually  forcing  it  to  the  windward  of 


ILLINOIS  IN  WAR  OF  1812  251 

the  burning  barge  and  into  the  very  blaze  of  the  Indian 
guns.  Holding  it  there,  in  spite  of  the  galling  fire  fairly 
scorching  their  faces,  these  men  coolly  rescued  the  survivors, 
removing  wounded,  dying,  and  all  to  the  security  of  their 
own  vessel,  and  then  swept  with  them  in  safety  down  the 
river.  It  was  as  heroic  a  deed  of  daring  as  was  ever  per- 
formed in  war.  The  island  was  later  named  for  Campbell, 
but  with  Captain  Rector  and  his  Illinois  Rangers  remains 
the  true  glory  of  the  action.  The  manner  in  which  it  was 
accomplished  only  serves  to  illustrate  the  desperate  need  for 
haste,  and  the  quick  response  of  brave  minds,  in  moments  of 
extreme  peril.  The  provisions  once  cast  overboard,  the 
crew,  largely  composed  of  experienced  French  boatmen,  at 
once  leaped  into  the  swirling  water  on  the  windward  side  of 
the  heavy  barge,  which  brought  the  boat  between  them  and 
the  direct  fire  of  the  enemy.  Partially  sheltered  in  this 
manner,  they  were  enabled  to  guide  their  heavy  boat,  in 
spite  of  the  raging  storm  beating  against  them,  until  it  rested 
close  beside  the  disabled  barge,  and  to  hold  it  there  securely 
until  the  removal  had  been  effected,  when  they  hauled  it 
against  the  wind  far  enough  out  into  the  wide  stream  to  be 
safe.  The  loss  suffered  during  this  brisk  action  was  twenty- 
five  :  nine  killed, —  four  Rangers,  three  regulars,  one  woman, 
and  one  child, —  sixteen  wounded,  including  Lieutenant 
Campbell  and  Dr.  Stewart,  both  severely.  Rector's  boat 
was  now  uncomfortably  crowded  for  the  wounded,  but  the 
force  on  board  being  large,  they  rowed  night  and  day  until 
St.  Louis  was  reached.  Riggs,  with  his  company  in  the 
other  boat,  exchanged  shots  with  the  Indians  all  day,  but 
at  night  succeeded  in  slipping  past,  and  finally  arrived  at 
St.  Louis  without  the  loss  of  a  man. 

A  little  later,  another  expedition  was  despatched  by  boat 
to  the  upper  Mississippi,  where  British  agents  continued 
active  among  the  Indians.  It  was  fitted  out  at  Cape  au  Gris, 
an  old  French  hamlet  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  a  little 


252  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

above  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois.  It  consisted  of  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty-four  effective  men, —  forty  regulars,  the  re- 
mainder rangers  and  volunteers, —  and  was  under  command 
of  Major  Zachary  Taylor,  afterwards  President  of  the  United 
States.  Nelson  Rector  and  Samuel  Whiteside  were  in 
command  of  the  boats  containing  the  Illinois  troops.  This 
force  passed  Rock  Island,  as  well  as  the  rapids  above,  without 
molestation,  or  seeing  anything  of  the  enemy.  But  about 
this  time  they  learned  from  scouts  sent  ashore  that  the  entire 
country  around  them  swarmed  with  hostile  Indians,  while 
a  number  of  English  were  there  in  command,  having  a  de- 
tachment of  regulars,  and  possessing  artillery.  Feeling  it 
unsafe  to  proceed,  the  three  boats  in  advance  turned  about, 
and  began  the  descent  of  the  rapids,  seeking  to  rejoin  the 
others  below.  These  were  commanded  by  Rector,  White- 
side,  and  Hempstead ;  and  no  sooner  had  they  rounded  the 
foot  of  the  island  before  they  were  at  once  plunged  into  a 
severe  fight,  large  numbers  of  the  concealed  enemy  pouring 
heavy  volleys  into  them  from  all  along  the  shore.  A  little 
way  above  the  mouth  of  Rock  River,  and  not  far  from  some 
small  islands  covered  with  willows,  which  have  since  disap- 
peared, Major  Taylor  finally  succeeded  in  anchoring  all  of 
his  flotilla  of  boats  close  together.  During  the  darkness  of 
the  following  night,  the  English  planted  a  battery  of  six 
pieces  close  to  the  water's  edge,  but  well  concealed  behind 
underbrush,  hoping  thus  to  sink  and  disable  the  frail  boats 
out  in  the  stream,  while  remaining  themselves  beyond  rifle 
range.  Indians  in  large  numbers  were  posted  in  conceal- 
ment upon  the  willow-islands  for  the  purpose  of  butchering 
any  who  might  escape  the  cannonading  and  reach  their 
shelter  alive.  But  Taylor's  prompt  action  frustrated  this 
plan.  Almost  at  break  of  day  he  ordered  his  entire  force, 
with  the  exception  of  only  twenty  boatmen  left  as  a  guard  on 
each  vessel,  to  the  upper  island  for  the  purpose  of  dislodg- 
ing the  enemy,  whom  he  believed  to  be  posted  there  in  con- 


ILLINOIS  IN  WAR  OF  1812  253 

siderable  force.  It  was  accomplished  with  great  gallantry, 
the  island  thoroughly  scoured,  a  number  of  the  skulking 
Indians  killed,  and  the  remainder  driven  to  the  shelter  of 
the  smaller  island  below.  Meanwhile  the  British  cannon 
opened  fiercely  upon  the  fleet,  the  shots  piercing  the  sides  of 
many  of  the  exposed  vessels,  and  causing  several  to  leak 
badly.  As  soon  as  possible,  the  men  engaged  on  shore 
rushed  back,  and  the  boats  were  promptly  dropped  down 
stream  beyond  range  of  the  artillery.  Captain  Rector  was 
next  ordered  to  take  his  company  of  Rangers,  and  clear  out 
the  savages  hiding  on  the  lower  and  smaller  island.  He  at- 
tempted it,  forcing  the  Indians  back  among  the  willows,  but 
they,  being  heavily  reenforced  from  the  mainland,  charged 
in  turn  and  hurled  his  men  back  upon  the  open  sand-beach, 
where  they  were  exposed  to  a  galling  fire.  At  this  time, 
through  some  misunderstanding  among  the  officers,  the 
boats  out  in  the  stream  began  to  retreat  down  the  river. 
Rector  attempted  to  follow,  but  his  barge  grounded  when 
just  off  shore,  and  the  savages  with  wild  yells  of  triumph 
surged  madly  about  them.  A  most  desperate  hand-to-hand 
fight  followed,  the  Rangers  using  their  clubbed  guns  and 
hunting-knives  to  beat  back  their  fierce  assailants.  For 
a  moment  it  looked  as  if  all  must  perish,  but  Whiteside, 
with  his  Illinoisans,  hurried  to  their  rescue,  driving  back 
the  savages  until  the  Rangers  could  be  released  from  so 
perilous  a  position.  Taylor  immediately  returned  south- 
ward, and  reported  his  loss  as  eleven  men  wounded,  of  whom 
three  afterwards  died. 

This  failure  practically  ended  all  effort  to  open  the  upper 
Mississippi  River  to  American  occupancy.  The  enemy  re- 
mained in  undisputed  possession  of  the  entire  country 
north  of  the  Illinois  River,  nor  was  there  any  force  in  the 
West  sufficiently  strong  to  drive  them  out.  With  the  ap- 
proach of  Winter,  however,  Indian  depredations  almost 
wholly  ceased  along  the  frontier,  and  the  Peace  of  Ghent, 
signed  December  24,  1814,  closed  the  war. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
THE    STRUGGLE   WITH    BLACK    HAWK 

THE  fifteen  years  following  the  close  of  our  second  war 
with  England  was  a  time  of  grateful  peace  within  the 
Illinois  borders,  and  was  distinguished  by  a  large  influx  of 
immigration  from  the  East.  Settlers  came  to  the  new 
country  both  by  way  of  the  rivers  and  lakes,  the  Northern 
States  beginning  for  the  first  time  to  be  well  represented, 
and  yielding  a  new  complexion  to  the  growing  settlements. 
More  chose  sites  for  farms  on  the  open  prairies,  and  beyond 
the  main  water-courses,  while  little  towns  sprang  up,  as 
if  by  magic,  in  midst  of  the  surrounding  wilderness.  Nu- 
merous colonies,  many  from  New  England,  some  from 
across  the  sea,  populated  in  a  day  entire  districts.  The 
outer  fringe  of  white  settlement  swept  swiftly  northward  and 
westward,  so  that  by  1831,  while  many  counties  yet  remained 
unorganized,  there  were  few,  indeed,  utterly  devoid  of  per- 
manent white  occupants.  North  and  west  of  the  Illinois 
River,  however,  the  country  remained  very  sparsely  settled, 
the  few  scattered  villages  far  between,  the  sole  means  of 
communication  those  dim  trails  leading  across  the  unbroken 
prairies  and  through  the  dark  woods.  Indians  still  hunted 
wild  game  throughout  nearly  all  of  this  region,  but  were  be- 
ing steadily  pressed  backward  into  narrower  confines  by  the 
advance  of  white  invaders. 

In  the  lead  regions  of  the  far  Northwest  were  several 
trading-posts  and  small  mining  settlements.  A  coach- 
road,  known  as  "  Kellogg's  Trail,"  first  opened  in  1827, 
connected  Galena  with  Peoria,  and  was  largely  travelled. 
Here  and  there  along  this  road  were  a  few  scattered  settlers, 

254 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  BLACK  HAWK          255 

thus  located  by  Dr.  Thwaites:  "Old  Man"  Kellogg  at 
Kellogg's  Grove,  Winter  on  Apple  River,  John  Dixon  at 
Dixon's  Ferry  on  Rock  River,  "Dad  Joe"  at  Dad  Joe's 
Grove,  Henry  Thomas  on  West  Bureau  Creek,  Charles  S. 
Boyd  at  Boyd's  Grove,  and  several  others.  Between  Galena 
and  the  Illinois  River,  the  most  important  settlement  was  on 
Bureau  Creek  at  Bulbona,  where  some  thirty  families  were 
gathered.  There  were  also  small  collections  of  cabins  at 
Peru,  La  Salle,  South  Ottawa,  Newark,  and  Holderman's 
Grove,  with  a  cluster  of  eight  or  ten  along  Indian  Creek. 
Chicago,  at  this  date,  contained,  perhaps,  three  hundred 
people,  who  were  housed  in  primitive  cabins  nestled  beneath 
the  shadow  of  Fort  Dearborn.  Scattered  between  these 
settlements  were  a  few  widely  separated  farms,  squatters 
being  far  more  numerous  than  homesteaders.  Such  is  a 
brief  description  of  Northern  Illinois  in  the  year  1831. 

Under  these  conditions,  trouble  was  inevitable,  and  it 
finally  broke  forth  in  fierce  conflict  with  the  closely  allied 
tribes  of  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  whose  seat  of  power  was  within 
the  present  county  of  Rock  Island.  As  early  as  1804,  Gen- 
eral Harrison  negotiated  a  treaty  with  these  Indians,  whereby 
they  ceded  all  their  claims  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  to 
the  United  States,  but  in  this  they  reserved  a  right  to  both 
reside  and  hunt  thereon  until  the  land  should  be  actually 
sold  for  white  settlement.  This  treaty  was  again  ratified 
in  1822,  in  a  "  full  council "  held  at  Fort  Armstrong,  on  Rock 
Island.  About  1828  the  country  immediately  around  the 
mouth  of  Rock  River  was  surveyed  and  sold,  and  the 
next  year  was  taken  possession  of  by  American  families. 
At  this  time,  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  these  treaties, 
the  United  States  gave  due  notice  to  the  Indians  residing 
there  to  leave  the  territory.  Keokuk,  then  chief  of  the  Sacs, 
at  once  withdrew  across  the  Mississippi,  accompanied  by  the 
majority  of  both  allied  tribes.  Meanwhile,  Black  Hawk,  a 
man  then  sixty  years  of  age,  and  long  a  pensioner  of  the 


256  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

British  government,  becoming  dissatisfied,  endeavored  to 
rally  all  the  Western  Indians  into  a  confederation  with  which 
to  resist  further  encroachments  of  the  whites.  His  success 
was  only  partial,  yet  he  succeeded  in  gathering  about  him 
most  of  the  young  and  restless  of  the  two  tribes,  over  whom 
he  exercised  a  species  of  chieftainship,  warranted  by  his  long 
leadership  in  war. 

In  1830,  a  sort  of  informal  arrangement  seems  to  have 
been  agreed  upon  between  the  few  Americans  who  had 
already  purchased  and  occupied  land  near  the  mouth  of 
Rock  River,  and  those  Indians  still  remaining  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, by  which  the  latter  were  to  continue  undisturbed 
cultivating  their  old  fields.  This,  of  course,  added  nothing 
to  the  legal  rights  of  the  savages,  yet  undoubtedly  encour- 
aged them  greatly  in  their  schemes  for  resisting  final  removal. 
With  headquarters  on  the  high  bluff,  since  known  as  Black 
Hawk's  Watch  Tower,  they  cultivated  in  a  feeble  way  a 
portion  of  the  rich  valley  lying  below.  Their  enclosures 
consisted  of  stakes  stuck  in  the  ground,  having  small  poles 
tied  with  strips  of  bark  between.  During  the  Summer  and 
Fall  the  Indians  appeared  sullen  toward  their  white  neigh- 
bors, but  did  no  damage,  other  than  to  allow  their  loose 
horses  to  range  at  will  throughout  the  unprotected  corn- 
fields. After  the  winter  hunt  was  over,  the  Indians  again 
collected  in  a  body  at  their  old  camp,  under  the  immediate 
guidance  of  Black  Hawk,  and  at  once  began  a  series  of  petty 
depredations  along  the  immediate  frontier,  which  greatly 
exasperated  the  widely  scattered  settlers,  who,  from  lack  of 
numbers,  were  unable  to  retaliate.  Black  Hawk,  in  these 
proceedings,  exhibited  his  shrewd  cunning,  for  he  had  evi- 
dently instructed  his  party  to  commit  all  injury  possible  to 
property,  while  never  attacking  or  killing  any  of  the  whites. 
His  policy,  apparently,  and  judged  from  results,  was  to 
provoke  war,  but  to  compel  the  Americans  to  take  the  first 
openly  hostile  step,  and  thus  enable  him  to  call  upon  his 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  BLACK  HAWK          257 

Indian  allies  among  other  tribes  for  help  in  defence  of 
ancient  rights,  and  the  "graves  of  their  fathers." 

The  stories  of  these  numerous  depredations  and  midnight 
raids  were  quickly  spread  throughout  the  near-by  settle- 
ments, creating  much  excitement  and  alarm ;  many  fled  the 
country,  while  others  gathered  together  for  defence.  Black 
Hawk,  at  this  time,  had  about  five  hundred  well-trained 
Indian  warriors  under  his  immediate  command.  They 
possessed  numerous  horses,  and  were  well  armed ;  every 
report  reaching  the  State  officials  bore  evidence  to  their 
hostile  purposes.  In  consequence,  Governor  Reynolds  can- 
not be  said  to  have  acted  hastily  or  improperly,  when,  with 
all  these  facts  before  him,  on  the  2/th  of  May,  1831,  he 
issued  a  call  for  volunteers  to  guard  the  frontier,  and  re- 
quested of  General  Gaines  the  assistance  of  regular  troops 
to  expel  the  invaders  from  Illinois.  Legally,  and  under 
the  terms  of  a  treaty  repeatedly  ratified,  the  State  was 
practically  being  invaded  by  a  hostile  band  of  savages,  under 
the  leadership  of  an  openly  avowed  enemy  of  the  United 
States. 

In  answer  to  this  call  for  volunteers,  the  settlements  made 
quick  response,  the  entire  border  throbbing  with  a  desire  to 
repay  in  kind  many  a  real  or  fancied  injury.  More  than  six- 
teen hundred  men,  most  of  them  on  horseback,  were  in 
rendezvous  at  Beardstown  by  the  22d  of  June.  Meanwhile, 
all  over  the  region  threatened  with  trouble,  stockade  forts  were 
hastily  erected,  the  scattered  inhabitants  forming  themselves 
into  garrisons.  Among  those  in  Illinois,  the  more  important 
were  situated  at  Galena,  Apple  River,  Kellogg's  Grove,  Buf- 
falo Grove,  Dixon's,  South  Ottawa,  Wilburn  (about  opposite 
the  present  Peru  ),  West  Bureau,  Hennepin,  and  Peoria. 
Fort  Armstrong,  on  Rock  Island,  became  a  busy  scene,  ten 
companies  of  regular  troops  being  at  once  ordered  there, 
with  large  quantities  of  war  equipment.  General  Atkinson, 
widely  and  favorably  known  to  the  Indians  as  "  White 


25 8  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Beaver,"  was  in  command  at  this  post,  and  acted  promptly, 
despatching  stern  orders  to  the  invading  Sacs  and  Foxes  to 
withdraw  at  once  from  Illinois  territory.  To  these  Black 
Hawk,  rendered  confident  by  the  advice  of  his  prophet, 
who  assured  him  success  in  the  struggle,  returned  defiant 
answers,  meanwhile  travelling  up  Rock  River  accompanied 
by  his  braves,  as  far  as  Prophetstown,  in  what  is  now  White- 
side  County,  but  attempting  no  depredations  on  the  way. 
The  very  act  of  advance,  however,  could  not  be  construed 
in  any  other  way  than  a  challenge  to  conflict. 

To  temporize  longer  with  the  savages  was  only  to  invite 
additional  danger  to  the  exposed  settlements.  A  second 
gathering  of  volunteers  at  Beardstown  was  hastily  organized 
into  four  regiments,  under  command  of  Colonels  John 
Thomas,  Jacob  Fry,  A.  B.  Dewitt,  and  Samuel  M.  Thomp- 
son. A  scouting  company  under  Major  James  D.  Henry,  and 
two  odd  battalions,  commanded  by  Majors  James  and  Long, 
were  also  in  the  field.  In  command  over  all  was  Brigadier- 
General  Samuel  Whiteside,  who  had  previously  won  honors 
as  an  efficient  Indian  fighter.  Accompanied  by  Governor 
Reynolds  in  person,  with  rank  as  Major-General,  this  little 
army  made  their  slow  way  to  Fort  Armstrong,  where  they 
were  duly  mustered  in  as  United  States  Volunteers.  Lieu- 
tenant Robert  Anderson,  later  the  gallant  defender  of  Fort 
Sumter,  became  inspector-general  of  the  Illinois  troops. 

May  9,  1832,  this  combined  force  of  regulars  and  vol- 
unteers took  up  Black  Hawk's  trail  clearly  marked  along 
the  east  bank  of  Rock  River.  Whiteside,  with  his  mounted 
frontiersmen,  led  the  way  on  land,  while  Atkinson  followed 
closely  with  the  main  body  in  boats,  transporting  provisions, 
cannon,  and  baggage.  The  command  of  the  latter  consisted 
of  three  hundred  volunteer  infantry,  and  four  hundred  reg- 
ulars, these  last  under  Colonel  Zachary  Taylor,  afterwards 
President  of  the  United  States.  The  travelling  proved  de- 
cidedly bad,  both  by  water  and  land.  For  many  days  the 


THE  STR  UGGLE  WITH  BLACK  HAWK         259 

toiling  troops  were  drenched  to  the  skin,  being  almost  con- 
stantly swept  by  pelting  rains.  The  trail  became  a  quag- 
mire, and  the  river  a  torrent.  Whiteside,  however,  was 
able  to  outdistance  Atkinson  in  the  advance.  He  reached 
Prophetstown,  only  to  find  it  completely  deserted  of  Indians. 
But,  the  signs  of  their  departure  being  fresh,  he  pushed 
forward  after  them  as  far  as  Dixon's.  Here  his  force  was 
augmented  by  two  additional  battalions,  under  Majors 
Stillman  and  Bailey,  which  had  been  organized  in  that  upper 
country.  Not  yet  being  regularly  sworn  into  United  States 
service,  these  men  demanded  to  be  employed  as  scouts,  or 
on  detached  service,  and  were  finally,  on  the  I3th,  sent  ahead 
of  the  slowly  advancing  column  under  Stillman's  command, 
as  Whiteside  was  anxious  to  use  them  in  any  manner  possible, 
thus  relieving  his  better-disciplined  force. 

Black  Hawk,  meanwhile,  after  tarrying  a  week  at  Proph- 
etstown in  persistent  but  vain  council  with  the  assembled 
Winnebagoes,  from  whom  he  gained  little  encouragement, 
had  pushed  on,  accompanied  by  his  motley  following,  to  the 
mouth  of  Sycamore  Creek,  in  Ogle  County.  Here,  in  coun- 
cil with  the  Pottawattomies,  his  schemes  of  a  great  Indian 
alliance  were  again  defeated  through  the  personal  influence 
of  the  chief  Shaubena,  who  remained  an  avowed  friend  of 
the  whites.  Utterly  discouraged  by  this  second  rebuff, 
although  a  few  hot-heads  had  joined  him,  the  Sauk 
leader  was  now  ready  to  meet  any  overtures  of  peace  which 
might  have  been  made  him  by  the  whites,  but,  unfortunately, 
in  that  very  moment  of  readiness,  circumstances  suddenly 
arose  which  made  the  continuation  of  war  inevitable. 
Major  Stillman's  force  of  undisciplined  scouts  had  made 
unsuspecting  camp  within  a  clump  of  open  timber  only 
three  miles  southwest  of  where  the  Indians  were  still 
holding  council;  about  them  on  every  side  stretched  the 
open,  undulating  prairie.  Black  Hawk  learned  of  the  near 
presence  of  these  troops  about  sunset.  He  had  with  him  at 


260  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

that  time  only  some  forty  or  fifty  warriors, —  a  mere  personal 
body-guard, —  the  remainder  of  his  band,  together  with  the 
hostile  faction  of  the  Pottawattomies,  being  encamped  on  the 
Kiskwaukee,  some  seven  miles  distant.  Supposing  these 
advancing  soldiers  to  be  under  command  of  Atkinson,  whom 
he  knew  well,  he  sent  forward  three  of  his  young  men  to 
open  parley  with  them,  and  bearing  an  offer  to  meet  with 
'  White  Beaver  "  in  council.  The  Sauk  chief  afterwards 
stated  that  his  sole  purpose  in  this  was  the  seeking  for  terms 
of  peace. 

That  which  followed  on  the  part  of  the  whites  was  full  of 
disgrace  and  humiliation  to  the  entire  border,  and  remains 
a  blot  on  frontier  history.  Stillman's  troopers,  totally  undis- 
ciplined, and,  as  many  report,  in  liquor,  were  busily  making 
camp,  when  the  three  Indian  flag-of-truce  bearers  suddenly 
appeared  on  the  summit  of  a  little  prairie  knoll  nearly  a  mile 
distant.  Instantly  a  yelling  mob  of  excited  whites,  without 
waiting  any  command,  dashed  out  upon  them,  driving  the 
three  helpless  and  surprised  savages  into  the  camp  amid 
curses,  blows,  and  threats.  Black  Hawk,  in  precaution 
against  failure,  had  despatched  a  small  party  of  five  braves 
to  watch  the  reception  of  his  truce-bearers.  These  were  like- 
wise observed  by  the  crazed  soldiery,  and  fiercely  charged 
upon  by  about  twenty  troopers,  who  had  hastily  mounted 
their  horses.  Two  were  killed,  the  other  three  succeeding 
in  escaping  to  the  council  grove,  where  they  reported  that 
the  truce-bearers  were  also  slain  by  the  whites.  The  old 
Sauk  war-chief  rose  up  with  indignation,  and,  determining 
at  once  to  avenge  such  foul  treachery,  sallied  forth,  his  little 
party  mounted  on  ponies,  to  meet  the  enemy.  Even  as 
they  thus  emerged  onto  the  open  prairie,  Stillman's  force, 
over  three  hundred  strong,  came  rushing  toward  them  like 
an  undisciplined  mob.  The  Sauks,  withdrawing  behind 
a  fringe  of  bushes,  remained  firm,  but  at  sight  of  the  Indians 
thus  making  a  stand,  the  troopers  came  to  a  sudden 


BLACK    HAWK 

FROM    AN    OLD    PORTRAIT 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  BLACK  HAWK         261 

halt.  Instantly,  inspired  by  anger  to  the  performance  of 
so  desperate  a  deed,  Black  Hawk  sounded  the  war-whoop, 
and  his  little  band  of  savages,  scarcely  forty  all  told,  sprang 
forward,  firing  fiercely  as  they  advanced.  Without  even 
returning  the  volley,  the  terrified  militia  turned  and  fled. 
All  night  long,  although  the  Indian  pursuit  is  said  to  have 
ceased  at  dark,  those  frightened  volunteers  of  Stillman's 
plunged  wildly  onward  in  their  mad  retreat,  through  swamps 
and  creeks,  for  twenty-five  miles  to  Dixon's.  Nor  did  all  of 
them  pause  even  there,  but  kept  on  to  their  distant  homes, 
alarming  the  entire  border  with  their  wild  and  fanciful  tales 
of  Black  Hawk's  force  and  savagery.  The  whites  had  in 
this  unfortunate  affair  eleven  killed.  Besides  the  two  scouts, 
and  one  truce-bearer  wantonly  murdered,  the  Indian  loss 
remains  unknown. 

While  the  story  of  this  skirmish  remains  a  blot  of 
disgrace  on  the  military  records  of  Illinois,  one  redeem- 
ing incident  occurred  at  Old  Man's  Creek,  a  small  stream 
rising  in  Ogle  County,  and  flowing  into  Rock  River. 
It  is  now  known  as  Stillman's  Run.  Here  Major  Perkins, 
Captain  Adams,  and  about  fifteen  men  made  a  determined 
stand,  and  by  hard  hand-to-hand  fighting  held  back 
the  savage  pursuers  until  their  companions  had  found 
opportunity  to  escape.  Captain  Adams  sacrificed  his  own 
life  for  this  purpose,  his  body  being  found  the  next  day 
lying  near  two  Indians  he  had  slain  in  personal  combat. 
Everything  pointed  to  a  most  desperate  struggle.  Their 
guns  were  broken  into  fragments,  and  their  bodies  covered 
with  the  scars  of  knife  and  tomahawk  wounds.  Major 
Hackleton  also  had  a  single-handed  fight,  but  succeeded  in 
killing  his  antagonist  and  escaped. 

Nevertheless,  it  was  now  to  be  war  beyond  question,  while 
this  easy,  unexpected  victory  greatly  encouraged  Black  Hawk 
and  his  gathering  warriors.  The  abundant  stores  of  pro- 
visions which  Stillman  left  behind  were  also  of  much  assist- 


262  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

ance  in  holding  his  braves  together,  and  encouraging  others 
to  join  his  standard  of  revolt.  Realizing  that  it  would  not 
be  safe  to  tarry  long  in  so  exposed  a  position,  the  wily 
savages,  after  gathering  up  their  spoils,  hastily  retreated 
northward  to  the  head-waters  of  the  Rock,  near  Lake 
Koshkonong,  across  the  Wisconsin  line,  a  land  of  swamps 
and  inaccessible  hiding-places.  Here  Black  Hawk  was 
soon  joined  by  parties  of  Winnebagoes  and  Pottawattomies, 
mostly  young  braves  eager  for  renown,  and  began  immedi- 
ately despatching  his  raiding  parties  down  into  Northern 
Illinois  to  harass  the  more  exposed  settlements  with  all  the 
atrocities  of  border  warfare. 

Meanwhile,  Whiteside,  with  his  fourteen  hundred  men, 
startled  by  the  news  of  this  defeat,  advanced  to  Stillman's 
battle-field,  only  to  discover  it  deserted  of  all  save  the  dead. 
The  sadly  mutilated  bodies,  disfiguring  the  prairie,  were 
buried  with  military  honors,  and  on  the  iQth  the  entire 
army,  now  under  command  of  Atkinson,  with  the  exception 
of  Stillman's  discomfited  corps  left  at  Dixon  to  guard  stores, 
began  its  slow  march  up  the  Rock  in  pursuit  of  Black  Hawk's 
retreating  braves.  But  scarcely  were  they  well  out  of  sight 
when  news  reached  them  that  Stillman's  men  had  de- 
serted their  post  at  Dixon  and  returned  to  their  homes.  At- 
kinson, with  his  regulars,  hastily  turned  back  to  protect  the 
exposed  stores,  leaving  Whiteside  alone  to  press  forward  on 
Black  Hawk's  trail.  But  almost  immediately  the  volunteers 
who  composed  his  force,  refusing  to  leave  the  State,  demanded 
their  discharge  from  service.  Unable  to  control  them,  the 
column  was  finally  turned  about,  marched  to  Ottawa  and 
the  men  disbanded,  the  whole  campaign  having  proved  a 
most  miserable  failure. 

Immediately  the  path  was  thus  made  clear  by  retreat, 
iBlack  Hawk's  eager  warriors  swarmed  down  upon  the  ex- 
posed settlements.  The  chief  led  in  person  the  larger  di- 
vision, about  two  hundred  strong,  and,  like  unchained  fiends 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  BLACK  HAWK         263 

thirsting  for  blood,  they  swept  the  entire  border.  Small 
scalping  parties,  principally  composed  of  Winnebagoes,  coop- 
erated with  them,  while  about  a  hundred  Pottawattomies, 
led  by  Mike  Girty,  were  guilty  of  terrible  atrocities.  While 
these  raiders  wrought  sad  havoc  also  throughout  Southern 
Wisconsin,  in  Illinois  they  swept  unchecked  clear  to  the  Illi- 
nois River,  and  the  entire  northern  half  of  the  State  was  in  a 
tumult  of  alarm,  every  settler  in  peril.  Stock  was  wantonly 
slaughtered,  cabins  fired,  settlements  raided,  and  men, 
women,  and  children  killed  in  sudden  midnight  forays. 
Many  of  the  latter  were  borne  away  captives.  No  one 
knew  where  the  fiends  would  break  forth  next,  or  who  would 
fall  beneath  merciless  knife  and  tomahawk.  On  the  22d 
of  May,  a  party  of  thirty  Pottawattomies  and  three  Sacs, 
under  Girty,  surprised  and  slaughtered  fifteen  men,  women, 
and  children  at  the  Davis  farm,  on  Indian  Creek,  twelve 
miles  north  of  Ottawa.  Two  daughters  of  William  Hall, 
Sylvia  and  Rachel,  were  captured,  but  a  month  later  were 
surrendered  to  the  whites.  On  the  I4th  of  June,  eleven 
Sacs  killed  five  white  men  on  the  Pecatonica  River,  and  a 
little  later  the  same  band  murdered  two  more  a  few  miles 
east  of  Galena.  They  were,  however,  fiercely  pursued  by  a 
party  of  volunteers  under  General  Dodge  of  Wisconsin, 
and,  during  a  hot  fight,  the  entire  eleven  were  killed,  the 
whites  losing  three  in  the  affair. 

About  this  same  time,  Captain  Stephenson,  with  a  portion 
of  his  Galena  company,  unexpectedly  came  into  contact  with 
an  Indian  raiding  party  somewhere  between  Apple  River 
and  Kellogg's  Grove.  The  savages  took  refuge  within  a 
clump  of  trees,  and  after  considerable  firing  had  been  ex- 
changed, the  Americans  charged  them  three  times,  but  were 
repulsed  with  the  loss  of  six  men  killed,  and  Stephenson  seri- 
ously wounded.  On  June  24,  Black  Hawk's  own  party 
made  a  desperate  attack  on  the  Apple  River  Fort,  situated 
fourteen  miles  east  of  Galena,  and  a  quarter  of  a  mile  north 


264  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

of  the  present  village  of  Elizabeth.  He  had  with  him  more 
than  a  hundred  and  fifty  warriors.  Fortunately,  word  of 
their  stealthy  approach  reached  the  threatened  neighborhood 
in  time  for  the  firing  of  guns  as  a  signal  to  those  engaged  on 
various  work  without.  From  every  direction  these  flocked 
immediately  to  the  safety  of  the  fort,  a  log  stockade,  with 
strong  block-houses  at  the  corners,  and  the  heavy  gates  were 
closed.  As  soon  as  the  Indians  arrived  within  firing  distance, 
the  action  began  with  fury.  It  continued  unabated  for 
fifteen  hours,  during  which  the  savages  made  several  attempts 
to  burn  and  storm  the  fortification.  They  took  possession 
of  near-by  dwellings  in  the  village,  knocked  holes  through 
the  walls,  and,  thus  safely  sheltered,  poured  a  galling  fire 
upon  the  besieged.  Others  devoted  themselves  to  destroying 
property  in  full  view  of  the  garrison.  There  were  only 
twenty-five  men  inside  the  fort,  but  they  fought  with  desper- 
ate daring,  believing  death  in  battle  preferable  to  surrender 
and  subsequent  butchery.  The  mothers  and  children 
united  to  help,  moulding  bullets  and  loading  guns,  and  at 
length  the  Indians  drew  off,  convinced  of  their  inability  to 
capture  the  place.  The  white  loss  was  but  one  man  killed  ; 
that  of  the  assailants  is  unknown. 

On  their  retreat,  this  band  of  Black  Hawk's  very  unex- 
pectedly ran  into  Major  Dement's  battalion  of  volunteers, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  strong,  who  were  encamped  at  Kellogg's 
Grove,  about  nine  miles  south  of  the  present  village  of  Lena. 
A  spirited  fight  ensued  on  the  open  prairie,  which  finally 
resulted  in  a  stampede  of  the  ill-disciplined  American  forces, 
until  they  found  shelter  within  a  block-house  situated  within 
the  grove.  Here,  however,  they  made  a  firm  stand,  and 
succeeded  in  driving  back  their  fierce  assailants  and  holding 
their  position  until  reinforcements  arrived,  before  which  the 
Indians  sullenly  retired.  The  whites  had  five  killed,  while 
the  Indian  loss  was  fifteen.  Other  skirmishes,  but  of  less 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  BLACK  HAWK         265 

importance,  occurred  about  this  time  at  Plum  River  Fort, 
Burr  Oak  Grove,  Sinsinawa  Mound,  and  Blue  Mounds. 

Meanwhile  neither  Governor  Reynolds  nor  the  United 
States  authorities  remained  idle.  Pursuant  to  another  call, 
two  thousand  volunteers  gathered  at  Beardstown,  June 
ten,  while  a  thousand  regulars,  under  General  Winfield 
Scott,  were  ordered  westward.  Among  these  volunteers, 
General  Whiteside,  previously  in  command,  enlisted  as  a 
private,  while  among  the  three  hundred  mounted  ran- 
gers, as  a  private,  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  less  than 
three  weeks  after  Stillman's  defeat,  these  State  troops 
were  gathered  together  at  Fort  Wilburn,  near  Peru,  and 
made  ready  for  the  field.  They  were  divided  into  three 
brigades,  headed  by  Generals  Posey,  Alexander,  and  Henry. 
With  Dodge's  Rangers,  already  waiting  in  the  northwest 
to  cooperate  with  them,  and  the  available  regulars,  the  entire 
force  numbered  nearly  four  thousand  effective  men.  With 
the  scouting  battalions  kept  well  in  advance,  and  occasionally 
having  brief  skirmishes  with  fleeing  raiding  parties,  the 
main  column  marched  slowly  forward  up  the  east  bank  of 
the  Rock,  leaving  Dixon's  for  the  unknown  wilderness  beyond 
on  the  afternoon  of  June  27. 

On  the  3Oth  they  crossed  the  Illinois  border,  about  a 
mile  east  of  the  present  city  of  Beloit,  following  closely  the 
fresh  trail  of  the  retreating  Sauk  raiders.  Every  precaution 
was  taken  to  guard  against  surprise  ;  whenever  possible, 
the  troops  being  encamped  at  night  within  timber  and  pro- 
tected by  hastily  erected  breastworks.  The  sentinels  were 
frequently  fired  upon  by  savages  skulking  in  the  darkness, 
but  no  attempt  was  made  in  force  to  obstruct  their  progress. 
At  the  outlet  of  Lake  Koshkonong,  which  was  attained 
July  2,  deserted  Indian  camps  were  found,  with  white  scalps 
dangling  from  the  tepee-poles.  No  one  in  the  struggling 
column  chanced  to  be  acquainted  with  the  country  they  were 


266  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

now  traversing,  while  the  few  Indians  captured  gave  mis- 
leading information,  and  consequently  progress  became 
daily  more  slow  and  difficult  and  uncertain.  Food  was 
so  scarce  the  army  had  to  be  divided  in  order  to  search  after 
provisions.  For  this  purpose,  General  Henry  was  de- 
spatched with  a  considerable  detachment  in  the  endeavor  to 
reach  Fort  Winnebago,  about  eighty  miles  distant.  While 
on  the  way,  learning  through  his  scouts  that  Black  Hawk's 
band  was  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  he  promptly  took  up 
pursuit,  sending  back  word  by  courier  to  Atkinson's  camp, 
by  that  time  some  thirty-five  miles  distant,  of  his  purpose, 
and  requesting  reinforcements.  Throughout  the  entire 
volunteer  force  this  news  was  received  with  manifestations  of 
joy,  while  every  discomfort  was  instantly  forgotten  in  an 
awakened  eagerness  to  overtake  the  savages.  Filled  with 
enthusiasm,  the  troops  pressed  sternly  forward  across  a 
country  made  most  difficult  for  travelling  by  deep  swamps 
and  innumerable  sink-holes.  Frequently  the  men  were 
compelled  to  dismount,  and  wade  up  to  their  armpits  in 
mud  and  water.  At  last,  on  the  2ist,  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  after  an  advance  so  rapid  that  forty  horses  suc- 
cumbed between  the  Catfish  and  the  Wisconsin,  the  eager 
soldiers  came  finally  into  contact  with  the  fleeing  enemy. 
Skirmishing  began  at  once,  until  at  last  the  Indians  came 
to  a  final  stand  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  the  river.  The 
savages  made  the  first  charge,  but  were  repulsed  with  heavy 
loss,  and,  after  a  half-hour  of  hot  firing  on  both  sides,  and 
a  steady  advance  by  the  whites,  were  driven  back  to  the 
refuge  of  the  high  bluffs.  Here  darkness  put  an  end  to  the 
fight.  This  was  the  battle  of  Wisconsin  Heights,  which 
occurred  opposite  Prairie  du  Sac.  The  Indian  loss  was 
heavy,  that  of  the  Americans  slight. 

After  the  battle,  Black  Hawk  loaded  a  large  raft  with 
women,  children,  and  old  men,  and  sent  it  down  the  Wiscon- 
sin River,  hoping  that  the  soldiers  on  duty  at  Fort  Crawford 


THE  STR  UGGLE  WITH  BLACK  HAWK         267 

would  permit  these  non-combatants  to  safely  cross  the 
Mississippi  in  peace.  He  reckoned  on  a  humanity  which 
did  not  exist.  Lieutenant  Joseph  Ritner,  with  a  small  body 
of  regulars,  intercepted  these  helpless  fugitives,  and,  firing 
on  them,  killed  fifteen  men,  capturing  four  men  and  thirty- 
two  women  and  children.  Nearly  as  many  more  were 
drowned,  while  of  those  who  escaped  to  shore,  all  but  a 
mere  handful  perished  in  the  wilds. 

During  the  night  following  the  Wisconsin  Heights  battle, 
Neapope,  who  was  Black  Hawk's-chief  lieutenant,  endeav- 
ored vainly  to  address  the  whites  from  a  high  eminence,  in  the 
Winnebago  tongue,  begging  mercy.  Unfortunately,  no  one 
then  in  the  camp  understood  his  language,  and  he  retired, 
feeling  that  he  had  been  rebuffed.  Meanwhile  the  Indians 
succeeded  in  crossing  the  river,  fleeing  down  the  western 
bank.  Atkinson,  as  soon  as  he  could  procure  sufficient 
provisions,  energetically  took  up  the  pursuit.  By  the  28th 
the  troops  were  also  across  the  Wisconsin,  all  the  commands 
united  together,  and  had  struck  the  trail  of  the  fugitives, 
which,  trending  to  the  north  of  west,  pointed  directly  toward 
the  distant  Mississippi.  It  was  a  hard  road  to  travel,  but 
the  troopers  were  constantly  encouraged  to  press  grimly  on 
by  the  large  number  of  dead  Indians  found  along  the  way, 
who  had  perished  either  of  wounds  or  starvation.  Every- 
where were  abundant  evidences  that  the  fleeing  wretches 
were  eating  the  bark  of  trees,  and  the  flesh  of  their  fagged-out 
ponies.  On  the  first  of  August,  Black  Hawk  with  his 
starving  remnant  succeeded  in  reaching  the  Mississippi, 
about  two  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Bad  Axe.  Close 
behind  them  toiled  the  relentless  pursuing  troops. 

At  this  time  Black  Hawk  had  no  thought  except  to  save 
himself  and  his  people  from  these  relentless  pursuers.  His 
one  remaining  hope  was  to  cross  the  broad  river  before 
Atkinson  and  his  men  could  come  up. 

Only  two  or  three  canoes  were  discovered  along  the  shore, 


268  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

but  with  these,  and  a  large  raft,  hastily  constructed,  the  ex- 
odus was  begun.  The  raft,  laden  with  women  and  children, 
was  despatched,  but  in  mid-stream  capsized,  and  nearly  all 
its  occupants  were  drowned.  Scarcely  had  this  occurred 
when  an  army  supply-steamer,  the  "  Warrior,"  suddenly  ap- 
peared on  the  scene.  John  Throckmorton  was  captain,  and 
he  had  on  board  fifteen  regular  soldiers  and  six  volunteers 
under  Lieutenants  Kingsbury  and  Holmes.  As  soon  as  this 
steamer  appeared,  Black  Hawk  hailed  it,  requesting  that  a 
boat  be  sent  ashore,  as  the  fugitives  desired  to  give  them- 
selves up.  This  request  was  understood  plainly,  but  the 
Captain,  apparently  fearful  of  treachery,  refused,  and, 
instead,  ordered  Black  Hawk  to  come  aboard  in  one  of  his 
own  canoes.  This  the  chief  could  not  do,  as  they  were  then 
filled  with  fleeing  women  and  children.  Immediately  upon 
his  stating  this  fact,  and  refusing  to  come,  those  on  board 
discharged  three  rounds  of  canister-shot  into  the  unsuspecting 
group  of  Indians  huddled  on  shore.  Instantly  a  fierce  fire 
of  musketry  burst  forth  on  both  sides,  during  which  twenty- 
three  Indians  were  killed,  one  white  being  wounded.  The 
boat  then  steamed  away  to  Prairie  du  Chien. 

During  the  night  following,  a  few  more  Indians  escaped 
across  the  river.  Amid  the  darkness,  even  Black  Hawk's 
heart  failed  him,  and,  accompanied  by  ten  warriors  and  a 
number  of  squaws  and  children,  he  fled  eastward,  seeking  a 
hiding-place  amid  the  dalles  of  the  Wisconsin.  But  when 
day  dawned,  his  conscience  smitten  at  thus  deserting  his 
people  in  their  time  of  need,  the  old  chief  turned  back,  and 
from  a  distant  blufF  witnessed  the  tragic  scenes  of  the  final 
struggle;  for  by  this  time  Atkinson  and  his  toiling  men 
were  upon  them.  After  a  hard  march,  beginning  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  head  of  that  remorseless  pursuing 
column  burst  forth  from  the  bottom  timber,  and  came  into 
full  view  of  the  fugitives.  Brigadier-General  Henry's  com- 
mand was  first  to  come  into  contact  with  them.  Swinging 


THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  BLACK  HAWK          269 

his  entire  force  straight  down  the  face  of  a  steep  bluff,  and 
dashing  recklessly  forward  on  foot,  his  eager  soldiers  came 
suddenly  face  to  face  with  three  hundred  desperate  war- 
riors. A  fierce  struggle  ensued,  the  savages  being  steadily 
forced  back  from  tree  to  tree  by  relentless  bayonets,  while 
frightened  women  and  children  plunged  into  the  river,  seek- 
ing escape,  and  many  of  them  were  drowned.  Much  of 
the  fighting  here  was  hand  to  hand.  In  the  midst  of  it, 
Atkinson,  with  the  main  body,  came  up  hurriedly,  and 
plunged  headlong  into  the  melee.  The  carnage  became 
greater  than  ever.  The  Indians  fought  with  the  desperation 
of  despair,  and,  although  weak  from  hunger,  died  like  war- 
riors. A  few  escaped,  fleeing  down  a  broad  slough  to  a 
willow-island,  which  the  steamer  "Warrior,"  now  returned, 
raked  from  end  to  end  with  canister.  Henry's  and  Dodge's 
volunteers  also  charged  it  fiercely  through  mud  and  water, 
and  finally  swept  completely  across  it.  Some  fugitives 
succeeded  in  swimming  the  river,  but  many,  attempting  it, 
were  drowned  on  the  way,  or  picked  off  by  riflemen,  who, 
in  their  excitement,  exhibited  no  mercy  to  men  or  women 
or  children.  So,  after  three  long,  horrible  hours  of  con- 
tinuous slaughter,  ended  the  battle  —  or  shall  we  call  it  mas- 
sacre ?  —  of  the  Bad  Axe.  One  hundred  and  fifty  Indians 
were  killed  outright,  an  unknown  number  drowned, — 
probably  fully  as  many, —  and  only  fifty  taken  prisoners. 
Perhaps  three  hundred  succeeded  in  attaining  the  west 
shore.  The  loss  of  the  whites  was  but  seventeen  killed  and 
twelve  wounded.  No  one  can  consider  the  incidents  of  this 
war  —  its  unnecessary  beginning,  its  cruel  ending  —  with- 
out realizing  that  it  is  a  dishonorable  chapter  in  border 
history  and  a  black  blot  on  Illinois. 

The  remainder  is  soon  told.  Black  Hawk  was  delivered 
up  by  the  Winnebagoes,  among  whom  he  sought  refuge,  and 
after  being  held  in  prison  until  the  early  Summer  of  1833, 
was  finally  delivered  over  to  the  guardianship  of  his  old  rival, 


270  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Keokuk.  Feeling  this  insult  keenly,  he  nursed  it  bitterly 
through  his  few  remaining  years,  which  were  passed  on  the 
Des  Moines  River,  in  Davis  County,  Iowa.  Here  he  died, 
October  3,  1838,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one. 

General  Winfield  Scott,  with  his  Eastern  regulars,  did 
not  arrive  on  the  field  to  assume  command  until  all  fighting 
was  over,  and  nothing  remained  for  him  to  do  but  discharge 
the  volunteers.  Cholera  among  his  troops  had  detained  him 
at  Detroit,  Chicago,  and  Rock  Island,  nearly  a  fourth  of  his 
detachment  of  a  thousand  men  having  died  of  the  pestilence. 
Beyond  these,  the  entire  American  loss  in  the  war  was  prob- 
ably not  to  exceed  two  hundred  and  fifty. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
THE   MORMONS   AT   NAUVOO 

IN  April,  1840,  large  numbers  of  a  religious  body,  known 
as  Latter-Day  Saints,  or  Mormons,  removed  from 
Missouri  to  Illinois.  They  had  purchased  a  considerable 
tract  of  land  located  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  in 
Hancock  County.  Nowhere  along  the  great  river  is  there  a 
more  picturesque  and  attractive  spot.  The  succession  of 
terraces  ascending  from  the  water  until  the  high  land  is 
reached,  furnish  a  gradual  slope  of  remarkable  beauty ; 
noble  groves  of  tall  oaks,  interspersed  with  winding  vistas, 
clothe  the  ground  to  the  summit,  from  which  point  the  eye 
looks  forth  over  a  green,  undulating  prairie.  Near  the 
river,  in  that  early  day,  stood  the  spacious  residence  of  Dr. 
Isaac  Galland,  who  had  combined  art  with  nature  in  forming 
a  most  delightful  country-seat.  On  this  fine  tract  of  land, 
in  1834,  he  had  laid  off  the  little  town  of  Commerce.  This 
land  having  been  sold  to  Mormon  agents,  preparations 
were  immediately  made  to  build  here  a  great  city  of  their 
faith,  which  was  named  Nauvoo,  signifying  either  "  peace- 
ful," or  "  pleasant." 

So  well  did  they  succeed  in  these  early  plans,  that  at  the 
end  of  no  more  than  five  years  the  entire  scene  was  changed. 
Nauvoo  by  that  time  already  contained  a  population  ap- 
proximating fifteen  thousand,  while  accessions  were  pouring 
in  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  several  smaller  villages 
and  settlements,  entirely  Mormon  as  to  inhabitants,  had  been 
started  within  the  limits  of  the  county.  Nauvoo  itself  was 
very  irregularly  built,  being  scattered  over  six  square  miles, 
a  part  lying  down  upon  the  flat  skirting  the  river,  but  the 


272  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

major  portion  extending  higher  up,  and  crowning  the  bluff. 
The  most  conspicuous  building  in  the  place  was  the  "  Tem- 
ple," never  thoroughly  completed  until  too  late  for  occupancy, 
which,  standing  upon  the  highest  brow  of  the  bluff,  over- 
looked the  surrounding  country  for  twenty  miles  in  Illinois 
and  Iowa.  It  was  built  of  compact,  polished  limestone, 
quarried  within  the  limits  of  the  city,  but  no  order  of  archi- 
tecture was  observed,  the  Mormons  asserting  that  they 
built  day  by  day  through  direct  inspiration.  It  was  one 
hundred  and  twenty-eight  feet  long,  eighty-eight  feet  wide, 
sixty-five  feet  to  the  top  of  the  cornice,  and  one  hundred  and 
sixty-five  to  the  summit  of  the  cupola.  The  basement  was 
a  huge  apartment,  and  contained  a  baptistry  supported  by 
twelve  oxen  hewn  out  of  limestone.  In  the  main  story  was 
the  audience-room,  the  second  contained  another  room, 
while  in  the  third  was  a  hall  for  educational  purposes.  Be- 
sides these,  the  building  also  contained  numerous  smaller 
apartments  for  the  use  of  the  church  officials. 

Upon  the  peculiar  religious  tenets  of  the  Mormons  we 
need  not  dwell.  Their  stormy  career  while  in  Illinois  is 
the  theme  of  this  chapter,  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  briefly 
consider  that  peculiar  faith  on  which  all  else  was  founded. 
Joseph  Smith,  a  native  of  Vermont,  obscure,  without  money 
or  education,  or  even  respectability,  professed  to  have  re- 
ceived a  special  revelation,  engraven  on  brass  plates  hidden 
in  a  box,  which  he  had  discovered  on  a  hillside  near  Palmyra, 
New  York,  in  1827.  Thus  he  became  the  founder  and 
leader  of  this  persevering  body  of  blindly  believing  men  and 
women.  In  twenty  years  the  disciples  of  this  "  prophet " 
increased  to  six  hundred  thousand.  The  first  distinctive 
Mormon  settlement  was  established  at  Kirtland,  Ohio,  in 
1831.  From  here  a  mission  was  soon  despatched  into  Mis- 
souri, and,  after  a  disgraceful  failure  of  the  Mormon  bank 
at  Kirtland,  the  leaders  of  the  sect,  including  Smith 
and  Rigdon,  his  principal  lieutenant,  likewise  sought 


JOSEPH  SMITH 

FROM  A  RARE  PHOTOGRAPH 


THE  MORMONS  AT  NAUVOO  273 

refuge  in  the  West.  Soon  after  their  Missouri  advent,  a 
military  corps,  called  the  "  Danite  Band,"  was  organized, 
ostensibly  as  a  protection  to  the  disciples  from  all  "  Gen- 
tiles," as  those  unconnected  with  them  were  called.  It  was 
a  secret  organization,  with  password  and  grip,  the  mem- 
bers bound  by  a  solemn  oath  to  "do  the  prophet's  bid- 
ding," and  to  drive  off,  or  "  give  to  the  buzzards,"  all  who 
dissented  from  Smith's  revelations.  This  organization 
was  undoubtedly  at  the  bottom  of  nearly  all  subsequent 
trouble. 

As  a  result  of  illegal  and  violent  acts  soon  following  this 
settlement,  the  aroused  people  of  Missouri  compelled  them 
to  depart  from  the  State,  and  in  1840  twelve  thousand  of 
them  arrived  in  Illinois  in  a  destitute  condition.  Their  tale 
of  distress  and  persecution  touched  the  hearts  of  neighboring 
settlers,  who  kindly  assisted  them  in  every  possible  way  to 
obtain  a  new  start  at  Nauvoo.  The  State  legislature  passed 
several  special  acts  for  their  benefit,  conferring  on  them 
powers  and  prerogatives  which  later  became  exceedingly 
dangerous  to  the  surrounding  community.  With  its  intensely 
industrious  population,  which  was  constantly  augmented  by 
fresh  arrivals,  Nauvoo  thrived  wonderfully,  and  in  the  short 
space  of  two  years  a  city  was  built,  containing  every  known 
form  of  architecture,  from  humble  mud  hut  to  stately  stone 
mansion.  By  this  time,  also,  under  special  legislative  enact- 
ment, they  were  permitted  to  organize  the  "  Nauvoo  Legion," 
a  body  of  four  thousand  well-drilled  Mormons,  with  the 
prophet  as  general. 

To  understand  something  of  the  danger  of  such  a  situa- 
tion as  this,  it  is  necessary  to  comprehend  to  some  extent  the 
character  of  this  rapidly  increasing  Mormon  population. 
Governor  Ford,  in  whose  administration  these  troubles  oc- 
curred, has  sketched  their  peculiarities  clearly.  It  really 
consisted  of  two  distinct  classes  —  the  rulers  and  the  ruled. 
The  one  was  characterized  by  shrewd  knavery,  the  other  by 


274  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

credulity.  Few  moral  distinctions  were  ever  made  in  that 
community,  and  none  socially  ;  the  mass  of  converts  were 
drawn  from  the  lowest  social  stratum,  and  many  a  well- 
known  criminal  found  safe  hiding-place  from  the  law  at 
Nauvoo.  All  that  the  leaders  apparently  cared  for  was  the 
strengthening  of  their  individual  power,  and  the  constant 
increase  of  their  revenues.  The  majority  of  the  ruled  were 
simply  fanatics,  whose  credulity  made  them  the  faithful  fol- 
lowers of  self-appointed  leaders,  among  whom  Smith  con- 
tinued chief.  There  was  a  wide  difference  among  them  in 
education  and  industry.  The  many  toiled,  while  the  few 
enjoyed  the  results  of  that  toil.  The  more  polished  portion 
of  the  Mormons  is  said  to  have  been  a  merry  set  of  fellows, 
fond  of  music  and  dancing,  dress,  and  gay  assemblies.  They 
had  their  regular  parties  and  balls,  from  which,  however, 
no  one  was  ever  known  to  be  barred  on  the  score  of  character. 
In  short,  it  was  a  community  of  rich  and  poor,  drone  and 
worker,  ruled  over  arbitrarily  by  twelve  apostles,  with  Smith 
at  their  head,  ever  seeking  new  power,  and  growing  more  and 
more  indifferent  to  all  considerations,  excepting  their  own 
selfish  interests.  In  the  very  nature  of  things,  a  clash  be- 
tween such  a  community  and  the  State  must  inevitably 
occur. 

From  the  date  of  first  settlement  until  1844,  Mormon- 
ism  prospered  unchecked  in  and  about  Nauvoo.  It  was 
during  this  period  that  the  prophet  is  said  to  have  received 
his  revelation  permitting  the  chiefs  of  the  Mormon  hierarchy 
to  have  as  many  wives  as  they  could  support.  This  new 
privilege  led  to  the  first  serious  division  in  the  ranks  of  the 
"  faithful,"  resulting  in  the  establishment  of  a  rival  news- 
paper at  Nauvoo,  called  the  "  Expositor,"  in  May,  1844. 
This  immediately  provoked  trouble,  as  the  "  Expositor  " 
in  its  first,  which  was  also  its  last,  issue  began  exposing 
certain  questionable  acts  on  the  part  of  the  prophet  and  his 
Advisers.  As  a  result,  a  party  of  Mormons,  presumably 


THE  MORMONS  AT  NAUVOO  275 

acting  under  direct  orders  from  those  high  in  authority,  made 
a  sudden  cowardly  attack  on  the  offending  printing-office, 
broke  the  press  into  pieces,  and  flung  the  type  by  the  handfuls 
into  the  street.  This  outrage  led  the  rebels  against  Smith's 
dictatorial  power  to  unite  their  influence  with  the  rapidly 
increasing  number  of  Mormon  opponents  living  in  the 
outside  country  district,  and  warrants  were  finally  sworn  out 
for  the  arrest  of  Joseph  Smith,  his  brother,  Hyrum,  and 
several  others  then  prominent  in  the  church  government. 
The  leader  in  this  rebellious  movement  was  William  Law, 
who  declared  that  personal  wrongs  had  been  done  him  at  the 
hands  of  Smith.  Those  arrested  were  merely  taken  before 
the  municipal  court  of  the  city  (of  which  Smith  was  likewise 
mayor)  and,  on  habeas  corpus  proceedings,  immediately  dis- 
charged. The  seceding  disciples  were  soon  after  compelled 
to  leave  Nauvoo,  and  retired  to  Carthage,  the  county  seat. 
Meanwhile,  Smith  was  constantly  engaged  strengthening  his 
civil  authority.  By  means  of  his  common  council,  and  with- 
out the  slightest  authority  of  law,  he  established  a  recorder's 
office  at  Nauvoo,  in  which  alone  the  titles  to  property  could 
be  recorded.  So  he  also  established  a  department  of  mar- 
riage licenses,  and  proclaimed  that  none  in  the  city  should 
purchase  real  estate  for  the  purpose  of  selling  again,  excepting 
himself.  These  acts,  however,  affected  only  the  resident 
Mormon  population,  but  the  "  Saints,v  encouraged  thereby, 
immediately  took  other  and  far  more  radical  steps,  which 
tended  to  awaken  outside  antagonism,  and  suspicion  as  to 
their  ultimate  purposes.  A  law  was  enacted  providing  that 
no  writ  issued  from  any  other  place  than  Nauvoo  should  be 
executed  within  the  limits  of  that  city,  unless  countersigned 
by  the  mayor.  As  a  result,  robberies  could  be,  and  were,- 
committed  elsewhere,  the  culprits  fleeing  for  safety  to  Nauvoo, 
where  full  protection  was  assured.  It  became  a  Mecca  for 
criminals  throughout  that  entire  section,  counterfeiters  being 
especially  numerous.  About  this  same  time,  petitions  were 


276  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

sent  to  Congress  asking  the  organization  of  a  separate  terri- 
torial government,  of  which  Nauvoo  should  be  the  centre, 
and  Smith  actually  announced  himself  as  a  candidate  for 
President  of  the  United  States,  sending  forth  nearly  three 
thousand  missionaries  to  advocate  his  claims  before  the 
people.  These  acts  awakened  much  uneasiness  throughout 
the  State,  and  served  to  crystallize  public  sentiment  against 
any  further  encroachment  on  the  part  of  the  Mormon  leaders. 
Inflamed  by  such  rapidly  increasing  arrogance,  those  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  Nauvoo,  and  especially  the 
settlers  of  Hancock  County,  felt  that  they  rested  in  close 
proximity  to  a  powder-magazine,  which  needed  but  a  spark 
to  produce  an  explosion. 

The  spark  was  early  forthcoming.  So  persistent  were 
rumors  of  evil  intention  upon  the  part  of  the  Mormon  popu- 
lation, coupled  with  their  persistent  ignoring  of  State  laws, 
that  Governor  Ford,  whose  account  of  these  events  is  most 
complete,  and  generally  correct,  paid  a  personal  visit  to  the 
county  for  purposes  of  investigation.  Whether  rightfully 
or  not,  the  militia  in  Schuyler  and  McDonough  Counties 
were  called  out,  and  assembled  at  Carthage  to  aid  in  the  en- 
forcement of  civil  processes  throughout  the  Mormon  commu- 
nity. Hearing  of  this,  Smith  at  once  proclaimed  Nauvoo  to 
be  under  martial  law;  his  followers  throughout  the  country 
were  summoned  to  the  defence  of  the  city  against  invaders, 
and  the  legion  assembled  under  arms.  Yet,  when  the  con- 
stable with  his  deputies  appeared,  no  armed  resistance  was 
attempted,  although  much  delay  occurred.  Through  the 
influence  of  the  Governor,  final  surrender  was  made,  and  on 
June  24,  1844,  Joseph  Smith  and  his  brother,  Hyrum,  with 
the  members  of  the  Nauvoo  city  council,  went  unattended  to 
Carthage,  and  there  surrendered  themselves  prisoners  to 
the  county  authorities  on  the  simple  charge  of  riot,  as  nothing 
more  serious  had  been  formally  alleged  against  them. 

They  were  confined  in  the  jail,  which  was  a  stone  building 


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THE  MORMONS  AT  NAUVOO  277 

of  considerable  size,  furnished  with  a  suite  of  rooms  for  the 
jailer,  cells  for  the  close  confinement  of  dangerous  prisoners, 
and  a  large  apartment,  not  so  safe,  but  far  more  comfortable. 
The  Mormon  leaders  were  first  confined  in  the  cells,  but 
later  transferred  to  this  larger  room,  where  they  were  allowed 
many  liberties.  No  apprehension  whatever  was  apparently 
entertained  by  the  officials  in  charge  of  any  attack  being 
made  on  the  jail  from  without,  nor  was  it  believed  the  pris- 
oners would  endeavor  to  escape,  as  the  charge  against  them 
was  not  a  serious  one.  The  Governor,  anxious  to  smooth 
over  the  difficulty,  proceeded  with  a  small  escort  to  Nauvoo, 
that  he  might  better  understand  the  situation,  while  appar- 
ently every  necessary  precaution  had  been  taken  to  safe- 
guard the  prisoners  confined  at  Carthage. 

But  by  this  time  the  entire  anti-Mormon  population  of 
Hancock  County  was  at  fever-heat.  A  large  number  of  men, 
principally  from  Warsaw,  assembled  in  and  about  Carthage, 
ready  for  any  desperate  deed,  if  only  the  opportunity  and  a 
leader  arose.  Who  their  leader  was  will  probably  never  be 
definitely  ascertained,  but  the  opportunity  soon  appeared 
in  the  rumor  rapidly  spreading  that  the  "  Carthage  Grays," 
the  only  military  organization  then  remaining  on  duty,  were 
encamped  in  the  public  square,  with  only  eight  men  left  as 
a  guard  over  the  jail.  Suddenly,  with  all  plans  apparently 
perfected,  the  assaulting  mob,  which  was  composed  of 
scarcely  more  than  fifty  men,  many  of  these  Missourians, 
having  blackened  their  faces  to  prevent  recognition,  scaled 
the  slight  fence  surrounding  the  jail  enclosure,  and  made  a 
rapid  rush  for  the  building.  The  few  soldiers  on  duty, 
having  no  heart  in  the  defence,  fired  in  the  air,  and  were 
promptly  disarmed,  the  assailants  surging  up  the  stairs 
toward  the  room  wherein  the  Smiths  were  known  to  be  con- 
fined. At  the  time,  two  other  prominent  Mormons,  Richards 
and  Taylor,  were  with  the  prisoners.  Hearing  the  shouts  of 
the  advancing  mob,  and  the  rush  of  feet  on  the  stairs,  the 


278  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

imperilled  men  within  instinctively  flung  themselves  against 
the  door  in  a  vain  effort  to  bar  the  way.  Finding  the  door 
would  not  yield  to  their  first  blows,  the  leaders  of  the  mob 
fired  through  the  light  wood,  one  bullet  passing  through 
Hyrum  Smith,  who  fell,  exclaiming,  "  I  am  a  dead  man." 
Taylor  was  struck  in  four  places,  almost  at  the  same  time, 
and  Richards,  who  remained  unhurt,  caught  him  up  in  his 
arms,  and  ran  with  him  to  one  of  the  inner  cells.  Joseph 
Smith,  armed  with  an  old  pepper-box  pistol,  but  already 
slightly  wounded,  fought  bravely  in  defence  of  his  life,  wound- 
ing four  of  the  assailants  before  the  overwhelming  rush  of 
numbers  and  the  bursting  in  of  the  door  forced  him  to  flee. 
Finally,  his  weapon  exhausted,  he  rushed  to  a  window  on  the 
east  side,  raised  the  sash  and  leaned  partially  out,  probably 
with  the  intention  of  jumping,  when  several  balls,  fired  from 
below,  pierced  his  body,  and  he  fell  to  the  ground  close  beside 
the  well-curb.  It  is  believed  not  another  shot  was  fired  after 
Smith  was  thus  killed.  This  occurred  about  five  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  and  the  mob  immediately  dispersed,  many  of 
them  fleeing  eighteen  miles  across  the  prairie  to  Warsaw. 
Much  apprehension  was  felt  lest  the  Mormon  population 
of  the  country  should  rise  in  vengeance,  but  nothing  of  the 
kind  occurred.  Instead,  the  tragedy  seemed  to  stun  them 
with  despair.  A  delegation  travelled  sadly  to  Carthage  for 
their  dead,  and  the  bodies  were  buried  at  Nauvoo  with  all 
the  honors  of  the  church.  Nine  men,  Levi  Williams,  Jacob 
C.  Davis,  Mark  Aldrich,  Thomas  C.  Sharp,  Wm.  Voras, 

John  Wills,  Wm.  N.  Grover, Gallagher,  and Allen, 

were  later  indicted  for  this  crime,  tried,  and  by  the  sympa- 
thetic jury  declared  "not  guilty." 

The  principle  that  the  death  of  the  martyr  is  the  seed  of 
the  church  proved  true  in  regard  to  Mormonism.  Instead 
of  perishing  with  its  prophet,  it  received  new  life.  Rigdon, 
who  had  been  Smith's  principal  lieutenant,  finding  himself  un- 
able to  obtain  chief  rule,  retired  with  a  small  remnant  of  the 


HOUSE  OCCUPIED  BY  JOSEPH  SMITH  AT  NAUVOO 


HOUSE  OCCUPIED  BY  BRIGHAM  YOUNG  AT  NAUY<  M  > 


THE  MORMONS  AT  NAUVOO  279 

"  saints  "  to  Pennsylvania,  while  a  council  of  twelve  apostles 
took  charge  at  Nauvoo  and  elected  Brigham  Young  leader. 
Missionaries  were  despatched  everywhere  to  preach  their 
faith,  and  new  disciples  began  pouring  into  Nauvoo  from 
all  over  the  world.  With  this  rapid  increase  in  membership, 
and  consequent  political  power,  the  feeling  of  antagonism 
among  the  surrounding  anti-Mormon  population  became 
more  intense  and  dangerous  than  before.  Outrages  occurred 
on  both  sides,  houses  were  fired,  property  destroyed,  and 
lives  sacrificed  in  a  species  of  guerilla  warfare  extending 
throughout  the  entire  extent  of  Hancock  County.  Within 
this  limit  no  man's  life  was  safe,  while  depredations  were 
committed  both  up  and  down  the  river  by  bands  of  ruffians. 
Which  side  might  be  justly  named  the  aggressor  it  would 
now  be  difficult  to  decide.  Courts  were  invoked  in  vain  by 
both  parties  ;  feeling  ran  so  intensely  high  that  justice  by 
jury  was  impossible,  and,  as  a  result,  Mormon  and  Gentile 
resorted  to  the  arbitrament  of  the  rifle  to  settle  their  disputes 
and  obtain  their  rights.  Time  and  again  the  Governor  de- 
spatched large  forces  of  militia  into  the  field  to  avert  what  had 
every  appearance  of  civil  war,  but  the  moment  these  forces 
were  withdrawn  the  conflict  burst  forth  afresh,  and  new 
atrocities  were  committed.  At  Lima  and  Green  Plains  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  Mormon  houses  were  burned,  the 
occupants  having  to  flee  for  their  lives  in  the  darkness.  In 
retaliation  for  this  act,  the  Mormons,  several  hundred  strong, 
and  well  armed,  took  forcible  possession  of  Carthage,  and 
swept  in  destruction  across  a  large  portion  of  the  county, 
destroying  a  number  of  lives.  General  Hardin,  at  the  head 
of  three  hundred  and  fifty  militiamen,  succeeded  in  checking 
these  ravages,  and  the  scattered  Gentiles  returned  to  their 
homes. 

But  now  the  adjoining  counties,  becoming  fearful  of  in- 
vasion, took  up  the  matter  in  earnest,  demanding  of  the  Gov- 
ernor, in  no  uncertain  tones,  that  the  entire  body  of  Mormon 


28o  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

believers  be  driven  from  the  State.  This,  as  necessary  to 
peace,  was  finally  agreed  upon,  but,  through  the  pacifying  ef- 
forts of  General  Hardin,  the  distressed  "  saints  "  were  given 
until  the  following  Spring  to  effect  arrangements  for  final 
removal.  A  small  force  of  soldiers  as  guards,  under  Major 
Warren,  was  stationed  at  Nauvoo  to  keep  peace  in  the  mean- 
while. By  this  time  the  Mormon  leaders  fully  realized  the 
spirit  of  stern  opposition  arrayed  against  them,  and  the  utter 
futility  of  attempting  any  longer  to  combat  it  by  force  of 
arms.  Nothing  remained  but  complete  withdrawal  from  the 
State,  with  whatever  was  possible  of  their  property.  That 
Winter  of  1845-46  was  the  scene  in  Nauvoo  of  stupendous 
preparation  for  the  coming  exodus.  All  the  principal  dwell- 
ings, including  the  Temple  itself,  were  converted  into  work- 
shops, and  before  Spring  came,  twelve  thousand  wagons  had 
been  completed.  Unfortunately,  rumors  early  reached  the 
place  that  United  States  regular  troops  were  on  the  way  up  the 
river  to  enforce  certain  writs  long-ignored,  and  to  escape 
these  the  movement  westward  was  begun  before  all  neces- 
sary preparations  had  been  completed.  As  early  as  Feb- 
ruary 15,  poorly  provisioned  and  poorly  clothed  for  such  a 
journey,  the  leaders,  accompanied  by  two  thousand  of  their 
followers,  crossed  the  wide  Mississippi  on  the  ice,  and  took 
up  their  weary  journey  through  Iowa.  By  the  middle  of 
May,  fully  fourteen  hundred  more  followed,  with  their  flocks, 
their  wives  and  little  ones,  the  intention  being  to  seek  some 
safe  spot  in  the  far-off  mountain  wilderness  of  the  West 
where  they  could  remain  utterly  alone  to  work  out  their 
destiny.  Possibly  a  thousand  Mormons,  who  had  thus  far 
been  unable  to  dispose  of  their  property,  remained  behind 
in  desolate  Nauvoo.  This  remnant  was  almost  immediately 
plunged  into  serious  and  increasing  difficulties  with  the 
surrounding  population  of  fast-encroaching  Gentiles,  eager 
enough  to  profit  by  the  necessities  of  the  "  saints."  Some 
were  whipped,  and  otherwise  tortured,  by  mobs,  while 


THE  MORMONS  AT  NAUVOO  281 

others  suffered  heavy  property  losses.  Retaliation  naturally 
followed,  and  writs  for  arrest  were  freely  sworn  out  on 
both  sides.  The  trouble  terminated  in  an  armed  attack 
on  Nauvoo,  made  by  hastily  gathered  forces  under  com- 
mand of  Thomas  S.  Brockman,  at  one  time  a  Campbellite 
preacher,  of  poor  reputation,  consisting  of  eight  hundred 
volunteers,  and  five  pieces  of  small  artillery.  The  Mor- 
mons had  barely  two  hundred  men  remaining  for  defence, 
yet  succeeded  in  holding  off  their  assailants  until  a  self- 
appointed  committee  from  Quincy  interfered,  and  granted 
them  fair  terms  of  surrender.  In  this  affair  the  Mormons 
lost  one  killed  and  nine  wounded,  their  assailants  three  killed 
and  four  wounded.  The  Mormon  remnant,  thus  finally 
banished  from  the  city  they  had  built,  were  thrown  homeless 
on  the  Iowa  shore,  to  get  away  as  best  they  could,  without 
either  money  or  conveyances.  Many  died  from  hunger  and 
exposure,  but  later,  those  who  survived  were  aided  on  their 
journey  by  the  awakening  of  a  better  public  spirit  among 
their  enemies,  which  was  exhibited  in  numerous  acts  of 
charity. 

The  story  of  the  Mormon  exodus,  after  its  advance  had 
crossed  the  Mississippi,  does  not  form  part  of  Illinois  history, 
but  so  thrilling  are  the  incidents  of  that  long  march,  and  so 
vitally  are  they  connected  with  the  driving  forth  of  the  par- 
ticipants from  this  State,  that  the  tale  of  it  cannot  be  entirely 
ignored.  That  first  company,  which  had  crossed  the  river 
'on  ice  in  midwinter,  had  their  families  with  them.  The 
first  night  in  camp,  nine  children  were  born.  For  days  the 
cold  was  intense,  the  keen  winds  sweeping  down  across  the 
bare  prairies  ;  the  nights  becoming  so  many  struggles  to 
keep  from  freezing.  Wood  was  scarce,  the  stock  of  food 
inadequate,  and  large  numbers  became  permanently  crippled 
from  exposure.  The  long-wished-for  Spring  found  them 
not  half-way  to  the  Missouri,  and  facing  fresh  difficulties. 
Snow,  sleet,  and  rain  combined  to  make  the  prairie  soil, 


282  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

across  which  they  must  travel,  a  sea  of  black  mud  almost 
impassable;  heavy  downpours  so  swelled  the  streams  as  to 
result  in  weeks  of  delay.  The  winds  of  March  brought 
more  sickness  than  the  storms  of  Winter.  Coffins,  formed 
of  tree-bark,  were  made,  and  in  these  men,  women,  and 
children  were  laid  away  to  rest.  Such  graves  continually 
marked  the  progress  of  Mormon  travel. 

Want  developed  disease;  yet,  in  all  their  suffering, 
brotherhood  was  constantly  in  evidence.  Self-denial  was  the 
rule,  and  each  scrap  of  food  any  possessed  was  shared 
equally.  Young  men  gave  up  their  places  in  the  column, 
walking  back  to  portions  of  the  frontier  where  they  were 
unknown,  and  hiring  themselves  out  for  wages,  that  they 
might  thus  purchase  provisions  for  the  aged  and  destitute. 
Others  halted  in  their  pilgrimage,  broke  the  prairie  sod,  and 
raised  grain  for  the  sustenance  of  their  brethren. 

Nor  during  these  months  of  trial  among  the  vanguard  were 
those  left  behind  in  Nauvoo  any  less  burdened.  Constantly 
harassed  by  their  Gentile  neighbors,  as  already  described, 
their  property  sold  for  a  song,  or  taken  from  them  by  fraud 
and  force,  their  power  of  self-protection  constantly  waning, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  these  zealous  fanatics  devoted  the 
greater  portion  of  their  remaining  energies  to  the  completion 
of  that  Temple,  which  they  already  realized  must  immedi- 
ately be  deserted  to  its  fate.  Never  since  the  dispersion  of 
the  Jews  does  history  afford  any  parallel  to  the  Mormon 
attachment  to  this  quaint  and  beautiful  edifice.  In  every 
stone  it  was  associated  with,  and  symbolical  of,  their  religion. 
Its  erection  had  been  enjoined  upon  them  as  a  sacred  duty, 
by  their  first  prophet  and  his  successors.  From  the  begin- 
ning it  was  a  labor  of  love;  hardly  a  Mormon  woman  but 
had  truly  denied  herself  to  make  gifts  in  its  behalf;  scarcely 
a  Mormon  man  who  had  not  served  the  tenth  part  of  his  year 
upon  its  walls.  Therefore,  in  this  stress  of  their  final  linger- 
ing on  Illinois  soil,  even  while  they  were  parrying  the  sword 


THE  MORMONS  AT  NAVVOO  283 

thrusts  of  their  advancing  enemies,  this  little  remnant  con- 
tinued to  labor  upon  it,  until  they  completed  even  the  gilding 
of  the  angel  and  trumpet  on  the  apex  of  its  lofty  spire.  As 
a  closing  work,  they  placed  on  the  entablature  of  the  front, 
like  a  baptismal  mark  on  the  forehead, — 

"  The  House  of  the  Lord  ; 

Built  by  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints. 
Holiness  to  the  Lord  !  " 

As  Colonel  Kane  wrote: 

14  For  that  one  day  the  Temple  stood  resplendent  in  all  its 
typical  glories  of  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and  other  abounding 
figured  and  lettered  signs,  hieroglyphics,  and  symbols,  but  that  day 
only.  The  sacred  rites  of  consecration  ended,  the  work  of  re- 
moving the  sacrosancta  proceeded  with  the  rapidity  of  magic.  It 
went  on  all  through  the  night,  and  when  the  morning  of  the  next 
day  dawned,  all  the  ornaments  and  furniture,  everything  that  could 
provoke  a  sneer,  had  been  carried  off,  and,  except  some  fixtures 
that  would  not  bear  removal,  the  building  was  dismantled  to  the 
bare  walls.  It  was  this  day  that  witnessed  the  departure  of  the 
last  elders  and  the  largest  band  that  moved  in  one  company 
together.  The  people  of  Iowa  have  told  me  that  from  morning 
to  night  they  passed  westward  like  an  endless  procession.  They 
did  not  seem  greatly  out  of  heart,  they  said;  but  at  the  top  of 
every  hill,  before  they  disappeared,  they  were  to  be  seen  looking 
back,  like  banished  Moors,  on  their  abandoned  homes,  and  the  far- 
seen  Temple  with  its  glittering  spire.  After  this  consecration, 
which  by  outsiders  was  construed  to  indicate  an  insincerity  on  the 
part  of  the  Mormons  as  to  their  stipulated  departure,  or  at  least  a 
hope  of  return,  their  foes  set  upon  them  with  renewed  bitterness." 

This  Temple,  upon  which  had  been  bestowed  so  much  of 
labor  and  love,  was,  only  two  years  later,  October  19,  1848, 
totally  destroyed  by  the  torch  of  an  incendiary. 

By  this  time  of  the  final  departure  of  that  lingering 
remnant  from  Nauvoo,  the  advance  of  the  remarkable  col- 
umn of  pilgrims  was  at  Grand  Island,  on  the  distant  Platte. 
No  picture  of  that  great  march  through  the  wilderness 


284  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

can   exceed  the  one  sketched  by  Colonel  Kane,  before  the 
Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 

"  From  the  first  formation  of  the  camp,  all  its  inhabitants  were 
constantly  and  laboriously  occupied.  Many  of  them  were  highly 
educated  mechanics,  and  seemed  only  to  need  a  day's  anticipated 
rest  to  engage  them  at  the  forge,  loom,  or  turning-lathe,  upon  some 
needed  chore  of  work.  A  Mormon  gunsmith  is  the  inventor  of 
the  excellent  repeating-rifle,  that  loads  by  slides  instead  of  cylinders ; 
and  one  of  the  neatest  finished  firearms  I  have  ever  seen  was  of 
this  kind,  wrought  from  scraps  of  old  iron,  and  inlaid  with  the 
silver  of  a  couple  of  half-dollars,  under  a  hot  July  sun,  in  a  spot 
where  the  average  height  of  the  grass  was  above  the  workman's 
shoulders.  I  have  seen  a  cobbler,  after  the  halt  of  his  party  on  the 
march,  hunting  along  the  river  bank  for  a  lapstone  in  the  twilight, 
that  he  might  finish  a  famous  boot  sole  by  the  camp-fire ;  and  I 
have  had  a  piece  of  cloth,  the  wool  of  which  was  sheared  and 
dyed  and  spun  and  woven  during  a  progress  of  over  three  hundred 
miles. 

"  At  this  time,  say  two  months  before  the  final  expulsion  from 
Nauvoo,  there  were  already,  along  three  hundred  miles  of  the  road 
between  that  city  and  our  Papillon  Camp,  over  two  thousand 
emigrating  wagons,  besides  a  large  number  of  nondescript  turnouts, 
the  motley  makeshifts  of  poverty  ;  from  the  unsuitable  heavy  cart 
that  lumbered  on  mysteriously  with  its  sick  driver  hidden  under  its 
counterpane  cover,  to  the  crazy  two-wheeled  trundle,  such  as  our 
poor  employ  for  the  conveyance  of  their  slop-barrels — this  pulled 
along,  it  may  be,  by  a  little  drugged  heifer,  and  rigged  up  only  to 
drag  some  such  light  weight  as  a  baby,  a  sack  of  meal,  or  a  pack  of 
clothes  and  bedding.  Some  of  them  were  in  distress  of  losses  upon 
the  way.  A  strong  trait  of  the  Mormons  was  their  kindness  to 
their  brute  dependents,  and  particularly  to  their  beasts  of  draught. 

"  Besides  the  common  duty  of  guiding  and  assisting  these 
unfortunates,  the  companies  in  the  van  united  in  providing  the 
highway  for  the  entire  body  of  emigrants.  The  Mormons  have 
laid  out  for  themselves  a  road  through  the  Indian  Territory,  over 
four  hundred  leagues  in  length,  with  substantial,  well-built  bridges, 
fit  for  the  passage  of  heavy  artillery,  over  all  the  streams,  except  a 


THE  MORMONS  AT  NAUVOO  285 

few  great  rivers  where  they  have  established  permanent  ferries. 
The  nearest  unfinished  bridging  to  the  Papillon  Camp  was  that 
of  the  Corne  a  Cerf,  or  Elkhorn,  a  tributary  of  the  Platte,  distant, 
maybe,  a  couple  of  hours'  march.  Here,  in  what  seemed  to  be  an 
incredibly  short  space  of  time,  there  rose  the  seven  great  piers  and 
abutments  of  a  bridge,  such  as  might  challenge  honors  for  the 
entire  public-spirited  population  of  Lower  Virginia.  The  party 
detailed  to  the  task  worked  in  the  broiling  sun,  in  water  beyond 
depth,  and  up  to  their  necks,  as  if  engaged  in  the  perpetration  of 
some  pointed  and  delightful  practical  joke.  Their  chief  sport  lay 
in  floating  along  with  the  logs,  cut  from  the  overhanging  timber  up 
the  stream,  guiding  them  until  they  reached  their  destination,  and 
then  plunging  them  under  water  in  the  precise  spot  where  they 
were  to  be  secured. 

"  Inside  the  camp,  the  chief  labors  were  assigned  to  the 
women.  From  the  moment  when,  after  the  halt,  the  lines  had 
been  laid,  the  spring  wells  dug  out,  and  the  ovens  and  fireplaces 
built,  though  the  men  still  assumed  to  set  the  guard  and  enforce  the 
regulations  of  police,  the  Empire  of  the  Tented  Town  was  with 
the  better  sex.  They  were  the  chief  comforters  of  the  severest 
sufferings,  the  kind  nurses  who  gave  them  in  their  sickness  those 
dear  attentions  with  which  pauperism  is  hardly  poor,  and  which  the 
greatest  wealth  often  fails  to  buy.  And  they  were  a  nation  of 
wonderful  managers.  They  could  hardly  be  called  housewives  in 
etymological  strictness,  but  it  was  plain  that  they  had  once  been 
such,  and  most  distinguished  ones.  Their  art  availed  them  in  their 
changed  affairs.  With  almost  their  entire  culinary  material  limited 
to  the  milk  of  their  cows,  some  store  of  meal  or  flour,  and  a  very 
few  condiments,  they  brought  their  thousand  and  one  receipts  into 
play  with  a  success  that  outdid  for  their  families  the  miracle  of  the 
Hebrew  widow's  cruse.  They  learned  to  make  butter  on  a  march, 
by  the  dashing  of  the  wagon,  and  so  nicely  to  calculate  the  work- 
ing of  barm  in  the  jolting  heats,  that  as  soon  after  the  halt  as  an 
oven  could  be  dug  in  the  hillside  and  heated,  their  well-kneaded 
loaf  was  ready  for  baking,  and  produced  good  leavened  bread  for 
supper." 

It  was  thus  that,  day  by  day,  this  wonderful  advance  was 


286  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

conducted.  In  the  early  Spring  of  1847,  a  body  of  one 
hundred  and  forty-three  picked  men,  with  seventy  wagons 
drawn  by  their  best  horses,  left  Omaha  to  make  the  trail 
for  those  who  were  to  follow.  They  carried  little  with  them 
but  seeds  and  farming  implements,  relying  almost  wholly  on 
their  rifles  for  food.  They  made  long  daily  marches,  moving 
as  rapidly  as  possible.  Behind  them  toiled  on  more  slowly 
a  second  party  with  five  hundred  and  sixty-six  wagons,  carry- 
ing a  large  quantity  of  grain.  By  the  last  of  July,  these  hardy 
pioneers  reached  the  valley  of  Salt  Lake,  and  choosing  this 
for  their  final  halting-place,  began,  that  same  day,  their  labor 
with  the  plough.  Behind  them,  struggling  sternly  on  across 
a  thousand  miles  of  desert,  streamed  the  seemingly  endless 
procession  of  Mormon  wagon  trains;  while  yet  farther 
away  in  distant  Illinois,  the  deserted  Temple  looked  down 
from  its  high  blufF  on  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  a  des- 
olate memorial  of  a  community  passed  away  for  ever  from 
its  shadow. 


CHAPTER  XX 

EARLY    AMERICAN    SETTLEMENTS 

NEITHER  English  nor  American  settlers  flowed  into 
the  Illinois  country  during  the  brief  period  of  British 
control,  the  few  soldiers  stationed  at  Fort  Chartres,  and 
later  at  Fort  Gage,  together  with  some  scattered  fur  traders, 
along  the  rivers,  being  the  only  evidence  of  their  possession 
of  this  territory.  Possibly  the  first  of  English  lineage  to 
touch  the  soil  of  Illinois  was  Lieutenant  Frazer,  who,  in 
the  early  Spring  of  1765,  was  despatched  a  thousand  miles 
down  the  Ohio  from  Fort  Pitt  to  prepare  the  Western  Indian 
tribes,  who  had  been  associated  with  Pontiac,  for  the  coming 
of  Major  George  Croghan  for  a  peace  conference.  Lieuten- 
ant Frazer's  reception,  however,  was  so  threatening,  that  he 
abandoned  his  purpose,  and  fled  to  the  French  at  Kaskaskia 
for  protection,  later  going  down  the  river  to  New  Orleans. 
Major  Croghan  closely  followed  his  distressed  ambassador, 
accompanied  by  a  small  party  of  soldiers,  and  on  the  6th  of 
June  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash.  Here  they  dis- 
covered a  breastwork,  supposed  to  have  been  erected  by 
the  Indians.  Six  miles  farther  on,  they  made  camp  at  a 
place  called  the  "old  Shawnee  village,"  probably  the  site  of 
Shawneetown.  Here  they  remained  six  days,  seeking  to 
learn  some  news  of  Frazer.  Starting  once  again  down  the 
Ohio,  at  their  first  landing  the  party  was  suddenly  attacked 
by  eighty  Kickapoos  and  Mascoutins,  and  after  five  of  his 
men  had  been  killed,  Croghan,  with  the  remainder,  was 
made  prisoner.  Taken  up  the  Wabash  to  Vincennes,  the 
Englishman  was  promptly  released,  through  French  in- 
fluence, and  after  holding  a  brief  conference  with  Pontiac, 

287 


288  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

in  a  council-meeting  somewhere  near  the  northwestern 
corner  of  what  is  now  Edgar  County,  he  completed  his  long 
journey  through  the  wilderness  by  travelling  along  the  old 
French  trail  to  Detroit. 

Undoubtedly,  during  the  time  intervening  between  Cro- 
ghan's  brief  visit  and  the  invasion  of  the  Americans  under 
Clark,  a  few  adventurous  Kentucky  hunters  roamed  over 
this  region.  Some,  indeed,  may  have  found  their  way  there 
even  earlier.  They  were  not  numerous,  or  warmly  welcomed 
by  the  French,  and  no  establishment  of  settlements  was 
attempted.  But  that  such  wanderers  were  already  in  the 
field  is  clearly  evidenced  by  Clark's  encounter  with  just 
such  a  party  almost  immediately  after  landing  with  his 
command  at  Massac.  At  the  first  coming  of  the  British, 
the  exodus  of  the  old  Canadian  French  was  very  large,  the 
greater  portion  removing  across  the  river  to  St.  Genevieve, 
or  Laclede's  new  hamlet  of  St.  Louis.  It  is  believed  that 
scarcely  two  thousand  souls  remained  within  the  territory  of 
the  Illinois.  But  Clark's  returning  soldiers  made  the  charms 
of  this  new  country  widely  known  throughout  the  Eastern 
colonies,  and  almost  at  once  the  tide  of  American  emigration 
set  bravely  in.  Men  who  had  served  under  Clark  returned, 
accompanied  by  their  families,  having  been  granted  land 
liberally  as  reward  for  their  army  experience.  Others  came 
with  them,  lured  by  their  descriptions  of  this  new  wilderness 
land,  and,  within  the  short  space  of  a  single  year,  permanent 
settlements  of  American  pioneers  sprang  up  on  the  American 
Bottom  and  in  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  protecting  Ozarks. 

Nor  was  Government  lax  in  taking  control.  In  October, 
1778,  the  Virginia  Assembly,  under  whose  orders  Clark 
had  conducted  his  expedition,  organized  all  the  territory 
lying  northwest  of  the  Ohio  into  the  county  of  Illinois, 
and  appointed  Colonel  John  Todd,  who,  when  under  Clark's 
command,  had  been  the  first  man  to  enter  Fort  Gage,  as 
Lieutenant-Commandant.  By  the  Spring  of  1779,  Todd 


EARLY  AMERICAN  SETTLEMENTS  289 

was  at  Kaskaskia,  organizing  a  temporary  government  for 
the  rapidly  arriving  colonists.  At  this  period,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  few  remaining  French  in  their  small  villages  along 
the  Mississippi,  and  some  families  scattered  upon  the  banks 
of  the  Illinois  and  the  Wabash,  all  within  the  present  boun- 
daries of  the  State  was  the  abode  of  the  nomadic  savage.  It 
was  not  until  the  years  1779-80  that  American  immigration 
became  at  all  apparent.  All  migrations  are  inclined  to  follow 
along  certain  lines  of  latitude,  and  the  first  arrivals  in  the 
Illinois  country,  taking  advantage  of  the  natural  highway 
afforded  them  by  the  Ohio,  were  originally  residents  of 
Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  although  not  a  few  of  them  had 
made  temporary  halt  within  the  confines  of  Kentucky. 
They  were  invariably  of  the  frontier  type,  imbued  with 
strong  Southern  sentiment,  and  not  a  few  brought  with 
them  black  slaves  to  aid  in  the  future  development  of 
this  new  land.  Either  crossing  the  wilderness  through 
Kentucky  on  foot  or  on  horseback,  constantly  harassed  by 
Indians  along  the  way,  or  floating  slowly  down  the  beautiful 
stream  in  great,  awkward  family-boats,  which  were  frequently 
attacked  by  hostile  savages  upon  the  shore,  these  daring 
settlers,  most  of  them  poor  and  nomadic  in  habits,  began 
streaming  into  this  newly  opened  country.  Three  hundred 
such  family-boats  were  reported  as  arriving  at  the  falls  of  the 
Ohio  in  1780,  although  comparatively  few  pushed  on  to  the 
Illinois.  Meanwhile,  for  thirty-six  years,  Northern  Illinois 
remained  an  almost  untrodden  wilderness.  In  1812  possibly 
a  dozen  settlers  were  about  the  present  site  of  Chicago,  hov- 
ering within  the  protecting  shadow  of  old  Fort  Dearborn, 
but  no  influx  of  colonists  from  the  Northern  States,  arriving 
by  way  of  the  great  lakes,  and  spreading  out  over  the  rich 
prairies  of  the  more  northern  counties,  occurred  until  after 
the  close  of  the  second  war  with  England.  Even  then  the 
advance  was  slow  beyond  the  main  water-courses,  several 
counties  being  without  a  single  settler  as  late  as  1840. 


2qo  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

So  far  as  known,  the  honor  of  being  the  first  permanent 
American  settlement  in  Illinois  lies  undecided  between  Belle- 
fontaine  and  New  Design,  both  in  Monroe  County,  where 
James  Moore  and  a  small  party,  including  Shadrach  Bond, 
James  Garrison,  Robert  Kidd,  and  Larkin  Rutherford,  made 
their  home  in  either  1780  or  1781.  New  Design  was  cer- 
tainly settled*  by  1782,  and  Piggot's  Fort  was  built  only  a 
year  later.  The  little  band  then  in  the  country,  not  more 
than  a  dozen  men  all  told,  a  few  accompanied  by  their  fami- 
lies, were  not  reenforced  until  1785,  when  perhaps  as  many 
others  joined  them,  seeking  homes  in  the  American  Bottom. 
For  some  reason  these  early  incoming  Americans  did  not 
readily  mix  with  the  remnant  of  French  population  occupying 
the  older  settlements  in  Randolph  County.  They  either 
halted  below  the  Kaskaskia  River,  or  else  worked  their  un- 
wieldy arks  farther  north  against  the  swift  current  of  the 
Mississippi,  leaving  the  French  entirely  alone. 

During  all  these  earlier  days  the  Illinois  borders  were  not 
only  constantly  harassed  by  Indian  raiders,  but  the  incoming 
settlers  were  compelled  to  fight  their  passage  along  almost 
the  entire  length  of  the  Ohio,  which  was  lined  with  hostile 
savages.  In  consequence,  the  colonists  were  few,  and  those 
only  of  the  most  adventurous  spirit.  Colonel  Todd,  the 
first  Virginia  commandant,  spent  but  little  time  in  the  Illinois 
country;  he  lost  his  life  at  the  battle  of  Blue  Licks,  Kentucky, 
August  1 8,  1782.  He  was  succeeded  by  a  Frenchman, 
Timothee  de  Montbrun,  of  whom  little  or  nothing  is  known. 
He  naively  writes  himself,  "Lt.  Comdt.  Par  interim,"  and 
land  grants  bearing  his  signature  were  among  the  archives 
at  Kaskaskia.  March  I,  1784,  Virginia  formally  ceded  her 
claim  to  all  this  territory  lying  north  of  the  Ohio  to  the 
United  States,  but  it  was  not  until  October,  1787,  that 
Major-General  Arthur  St.  Clair  was  elected  by  Congress  as 
Governor  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  of  which  the  Illinois 
country  then  formed  part. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  SETTLEMENTS  291 

This  interim  proved  a  slow  transition  period  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Illinois  settlements;  colonists  were  few,  while 
those  already  in  the  country,  besides  being  constantly  on  the 
defensive  against  Indian  attacks,  were  in  great  uncertainty 
as  to  their  land  titles.  Nothing,  indeed,  seemed  established 
upon  a  permanent  basis;  adventurers  were  many  and  spec- 
ulation rife.  Until  the  final  organization  of  the  county  of 
St.  Clair  in  1790,  there  was  a  very  imperfect  administration 
of  the  law,  which  consisted  of  an  odd  mixture  of  French  and 
English  precedents.  There  were  no  regular  courts,  and, 
indeed,  no  civil  government  worthy  of  mention.  The  settlers 
were  a  law  unto  themselves,  and  to  their  honor  be  it  said, 
little  occurred  demanding  serious  punishment.  A  land 
speculation,  instituted  by  a  territorial  court  named  by  Gov- 
ernor Todd,  did  much  to  demoralize  the  earlier  settlements. 
This  court  was  appointed  at  Post  Vincennes  in  1779,  and 
Colonel  J.  M.  P.  Legras  acted  as  president.  Adopting  the 
custom  of  the  French  commandants,  this  court  began  to 
grant  tracts  of  land  to  both  French  and  American  settlers, 
as  well  as  to  civil  and  military  officers.  Before  1783  nearly 
twenty-six  thousand  acres  had  thus  been  conveyed  to  differ- 
ent individuals,  and  by  1787,  when  the  practice  was  stopped 
by  General  Harmar,  the  total  grants  amounted  to  forty- 
eight  thousand  acres.  Indeed,  so  far  did  they  venture  as 
to  grant  to  themselves,  as  members  of  the  court,  all  that 
scope  of  country  extending  on  the  Wabash  from  Point  La 
Coupee  to  the  mouth  of  White  River,  seventy-two  miles  in 
length,  and  extending  westward  into  Illinois  for  one  hundred 
and  twenty  miles.  This  shameful  transaction  was  early 
taken  advantage  of  by  swindlers,  and  great  numbers  of  in- 
coming settlers  were  duped  into  buying  land  to  which  the 
seller  possessed  no  legal  right,  although  the  original  titles 
had  been  duly  executed  under  the  seal  of  Virginia.  It  was 
not  until  after  1802  that  these  sharp  practices  were  entirely 
discontinued. 


292  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

In  February,  1790,  Governor  St.  Clair,  accompanied  by 
Secretary  Winthrop  Sargeant,  arrived  at  Kaskaskia.  At 
this  time  there  were  not  more  than  three  or  four  small 
scattered  American  settlements  in  the  entire  region,  and 
probably  not  more  than  twenty-five  actual  American  settlers. 
The  country  extending  from  the  conference  of  the  Ohio  to 
the  mouth  of  Little  Mackinaw  Creek,  on  the  Illinois,  was 
organized  into  the  county  of  St.  Clair.  This  magnificent  but 
desolate  domain  was  divided  into  three  judicial  districts, 
and  John  Edgar  of  Kaskaskia,  John  Baptiste  Barbeau  of 
Prairie  du  Rocher,  and  John  de  Moulin  of  Cahokia,  were 
named  as  judges.  Of  these,  De  Moulin  was  a  Swiss,  possess- 
ing a  good  education  and  some  knowledge  of  law;  Barbeau 
was  Canadian  French,  and  a  merchant;  while  Edgar  was  an 
Englishman.  Cahokia  became  the  county  seat,  with  Wil- 
liam St.  Clair  clerk  and  recorder,  and  William  Biggs  sheriff. 
Immigration,  however,  remained  almost  stationary  for  four 
years  longer,  being  retarded  by  constantly  recurring  Indian 
wars,  until  after  WTayne's  great  victory  on  the  Maumee, 
August  20,  1794.  From  that  date  we  may  trace  a  steadily 
increasing  influx  of  American  settlers,  pouring  in  by  way  of 
the  Ohio.  In  the  year  1791,  only  sixty-five  Americans 
capable  of  bearing  arms  were  in  the  Illinois  country,  with 
three  hundred  all  told.  By  1809  the  population  amounted  to 
above  nine  thousand. 

As  early  as  1795,  St.  Clair  County  was  divided  by  run- 
ning a  line  through  the  New  Design  settlement,  in  the 
present  Monroe  County,  due  east  to  the  Wabash  —  all  lying 
south  being  established  into  the  new  county  of  Randolph. 
For  nine  years  following  May  7,  1800,  the  Illinois  country 
was  known  as  a  part  of  Indiana  Territory,  with  the  seat  of 
government  established  at  Vincennes.  This  was  a  period 
of  continuous  growth  in  population  and  extension  of  settle- 
ments. By  the  end  of  this  period,  colonists  had  advanced  as 
far  north  as  Wood  River,  in  the  present  Madison  County; 


EARLT  AMERICAN  SETTLEMENTS  293 

eastward  on  Silver  Creek,  and  some  miles  up  the  Kaskaskia; 
south  and  east  from  Kaskaskia  about  fifteen  miles  out  on  the 
old  Fort  Massac  road  were  frequent  settlements;  the  Birds 
had  located  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio;  at  Old  Massac  and 
the  Ohio  salines  were  small  settlements  ;  Shawneetown, 
which,  after  1813,  and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  following, 
was  the  principal  town  in  Illinois,  had  contained  a  few  strag- 
gling houses  since  1805  ;  along  the  west  side  of  the  Wabash 
a  number  of  families  had  made  their  homes,  one  McCawley 
having  penetrated  inland  as  far  as  the  crossing  of  the  Little 
Wabash.  By  1804  an  Irish  colony  had  established  itself 
near  Cave-in-Rock,  on  the  Ohio  River,  in  Hardin  County; 
one  Daniels  built  a  stockade  fort  in  Jackson  County  a  year 
later,  and  by  1807  a  considerable  settlement  had  gathered 
near  the  mouth  of  Skillet  Fork,  in  the  present  White  County. 
Chilton  had  a  stockade  fort  as  far  north  as  the  southeastern 
corner  of  what  is  now  Madison  County  as  early  as  1803, 
while  the  Goshen  settlements,  established  in  1802,  and  the 
Judy  settlement,  in  1801,  were  within  the  same  county  limits. 
Edwardsville  was  established  in  1805.  Turkey  Hill,  just 
east  of  the  present  Belleville,  had  settlers  as  early  as  1798, 
but  the  most  exposed  and  advanced  post  to  the  northward, 
previous  to  die  second  war  with  England,  was  Jones's  stock- 
ade fort,  established  in  western  Bond  County  in  1809.  This 
point  marks  the  extreme  advance  of  the  American  frontier 
when  Illinois  was  first  organized  into  a  separate  Territory. 
A  glance  at  the  map  will  reveal  the  wide,  untracked  wilder- 
ness stretching  between  these  few,  small,  isolated  settlements. 
Far  to  the  northeast,  where  Chicago  now  stands,  were  a  few 
settlers,  chief  among  them  being  the  fur  trader,  John  Kin- 
zie,  all  clustering  about  Fort  Dearborn,  established  in  1804. 
At  the  Peoria  Lake  a  number  of  French  traders  resided.  In 
1810,  the  census  returns  showed  the  inhabitants  to  num- 
ber 11,501  whites,  168  slaves,  and  613  of  all  others,  except 
Indians  —  an  increase  of  four  hundred  per  cent  during  the 


294  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

preceding  decade.  Nine-tenths  of  what  is  now  Illinois  re- 
mained, however,  an  almost  unknown  wilderness  over 
which  red  savages  held  undisputed  dominion,  outnumbering 
their  white  neighbors  at  least  three  to  one. 

February  3,  1809,  all  this  country,  including  the  present 
State  of  Wisconsin  as  well,  was  reorganized  under  the  name 
of  Illinois  Territory,  and  Ninian  Edwards  of  Kentucky  was 
appointed  Governor.  The  next  seven  years,  while  exceed- 
ingly eventful  along  the  Illinois  frontier  on  account  of  the 
war  with  England,  were  not  years  of  colonization  or  growth. 
The  settlers  already  on  the  field  were  almost  continually  un- 
der arms  in  defence  against  Indian  foray,  while  new  arrivals 
were  few  in  number.  Large  numbers  of  block-houses  were 
erected,  as  described  in  a  previous  chapter,  while  the  military 
campaigns,  extending  to  north  of  the  Illinois  River,  made 
the  soldiers  taking  part  in  them  acquainted  with  this  remote 
country,  and  thus  stimulated  an  advancement  of  settlers 
immediately  following  cessation  of  hostilities.  Even  while 
the  struggle  continued,  some  few  were  bold  enough  to  push 
farther  northward  into  the  very  heart  of  the  hostile  Indian 
country.  T.  Carlin  erected  a  cabin  in  1815  in  the  southern 
portion  of  Green  County,  while  the  Macoupin  settlement 
was  established  a  year  later.  Vandalia  had  settlers  as  early 
as  1813,  while  still  farther  east,  within  the  present  borders  of 
Effingham  County,  G.  Lippsword  erected  a  lonely  cabin  in 
1815.  September,  1812,  the  counties  of  Madison,  Gallatin, 
and  Johnson  were  organized,  making  at  that  date  a  total 
of  five. 

With  the  close  of  the  war,  the  tide  of  immigration  at  once 
set  in  with  renewed  volume,  the  more  northern  States  now 
being  largely  represented,  their  contingent  arriving  by  way 
of  the  lakes,  and  scattering  out  from  Chicago.  An  Act  of 
Congress,  passed  in  1813,  granting  the  right  to  settle  by 
preemption  upon  the  public  domain,  contributed  largely  to 
this  desire  for  settlement.  Previously,  emigrants  in  four 


EARLY  AMERICAN  SETTLEMENTS  295 

cases  out  of  five  had  merely  "  squatted  "  on  the  land,  acquir- 
ing no  right  or  title.  Small  and  inferior  improvements  were 
the  natural  result ;  but  now  matters  immediately  began  to 
assume  a  more  permanent  appearance.  Moreover,  about 
this  same  time,  a  better  means  of  communication  was  inau- 
gurated between  the  Illinois  country  and  the  East,  not  only 
stimulating  emigration,  but  commerce  as  well.  The  keel- 
boat,  with  its  six  months'  voyage  to  New  Orleans,  or  the 
slow  wagoning  across  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  was  super- 
seded by  the  steamboat.  The  first  boat  to  ascend  the 
Mississippi  under  its  own  steam  was  the  "General  Pike," 
which  reached  St.  Louis  in  August,  1817;  the  "New 
Orleans"  had  come  down  the  Ohio  as  early  as  1811. 

In  the  year  1818,  Illinois,  with  its  present  boundaries, 
was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  State,  having  then  an  esti- 
mated population  of  forty  thousand.  The  first  election  was 
held  on  the  third  Thursday  of  September,  when  Shadrach 
Bond  was  elected  Governor.  Fifteen  counties  were  at  this 
time  duly  organized,  the  most  northerly  of  these  being  Bond, 
laid  out  the  year  previous.  Only  about  one-fourth  the 
actual  territory  of  the  new  State  was  embraced  within  these 
organized  counties.  The  settled  portions  of  the  State  were 
at  that  time  almost  entirely  south  of  a  line  drawn  from  Alton 
via  Carlyle,  to  Palestine,  on  the  Wabash,  and  even  within  this 
area  there  were  large  tracts  of  wilderness  country  several 
days'  journey  in  extent;  the  settlements  being  mostly  scat- 
tered along  the  borders  of  the  principal  streams.  Nineteen- 
twentieths  of  the  residents  were  Americans,  and  except  a  few 
from  Pennsylvania,  were  nearly  all  of  Southern  origin. 
These  indelibly  stamped  their  peculiar  characteristics  upon 
all  of  Southern  Illinois.  By  1821,  the  counties  of  Greene, 
I  ayette,  Montgomery,  Lawrence,  Hamilton,  Sangamon,  and 
Pike  were  established,  the  latter  including  all  of  the  State 
lying  north  and  west  of  the  Illinois  River.  This  vast  and 
hitherto  unoccupied  territory  was  by  this  time  beginning  to 


296  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

receive  its  pioneer  settlers.  J.  A.  Perrigo  had  taken  land 
in  the  present  Adams  County;  Scott  had  a  small  settlement 
established  in  1820 ;  and  the  same  year  saw  the  starting  of 
the  Diamond  Grove  colony  in  northern  Morgan,  while 
north  of  the  river  a  few  settlers  had  established  homes  in 
Fulton.  From  this  date  the  progress  of  the  pioneers  was 
rapid.  In  the  counties  as  now  organized,  C.  Hobart  was 
in  Schuyler  by  1823;  Carter's  settlement,  in  McDonough,  in 
1826;  Yellow  Bank,  in  Henderson,  in  1827;  Knox  had 
settlers  by  1828,  and  Stark  the  same  year.  Peoria  was  never 
wholly  deserted  by  Americans  after  the  erection  of  Fort 
Clark  in  1813.  Menard  had  a  settlement  as  early  as  1819, 
and  Beardstown  was  founded  that  same  year.  The  more 
eastern  counties  seem  to  have  been  somewhat  slower  in 
attracting  immigration,  although  McLean  had  two  settle- 
ments —  Funk's  and  Randolph's  Groves  —  as  early  as  1824. 
Coles  was  first  settled  in  1824,  while  Edgar  was  invaded  in 
1817.  In  Vermilion  several  settlements  were  started  by  1820. 
The  Summer  of  1825  witnessed  much  change  in  popula- 
tion. A  great  tide  set  in  toward  the  central  portion  of  the 
State.  Through  Vandalia  alone,  we  are  told,  two  hundred 
and  fifty  wagons  were  counted  in  three  weeks'  time,  all  bound 
north.  Destined  for  Sangamon  County,  eighty  wagons  and 
four  hundred  people  were  counted  in  two  weeks'  time.  The 
census  of  that  year  gave  the  State  a  population  of  72,817. 
By  1830  the  census  returns  reached  157,447.  There  were 
at  this  time  fifty-six  organized  counties,  but  those  in  the 
northern  portion  of  the  State  were  mere  skeletons,  and 
unwieldy  in  size.  Fully  a  third  of  the  domain  now  co'nsti- 
tuting  Illinois  yet  remained  a  wilderness.  All  that  portion, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  remote  frontier  settlements  and 
traders'  stockades  lying  between  Chicago  and  Galena,  and 
stretching  southward  to  the  Illinois  River  and  even  beyond, 
was  hunted  over  by  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Winnebagoes,  and 
Pottawattomies.  What  settlers  there  were  hugged  the  out- 


EARLY  AMERICAN  SETTLEMENTS  297 

skirts  of  the  timber  bordering  the  rivers  and  creeks,  or  the 
edge  of  groves,  scarcely  any  venturing  forth  upon  the  open 
and,  as  they  still  believed,  unproductive  prairie.  Along  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Illinois,  settlements  were  scattered  at 
distant  intervals,  while  on  Fever  River  were  congregated 
about  a  thousand  all  told,  mostly  employed  at  lead-mining. 
In  1825,  Mr.  Kellogg  laid  out  a  trail  between  Peoria  Lake 
and  this  settlement  of  distant  lead-miners  at  Galena.  It 
ran  through  an  unbroken  wilderness,  crossing  Rock  River 
a  few  miles  above  the  present  Dixon,  and  passing  through 
West  Grove.  Winnebago  Indians  assisted  the  travellers 
to  cross  the  stream,  by  forming  a  ferry-boat  of  canoes,  while 
the  horses  swam.  A  year  later  Bolles  trail  was  established,  and 
the  river  ferried  at  Dixon,  about  where  the  Illinois  Central 
bridge  now  stands.  This  was  a  more  direct  route,  and  be- 
came at  once  popular.  In  the  Spring  of  1827,  within  the 
space  of  a  few  days,  two  hundred  teams  passed  at  this  point. 
The  Lewiston  trail,  still  farther  west,  crossed  the  Rock  at 
Prophetstown,  in  Whiteside  County. 

A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  the  location  of  the  few 
points  north  of  the  Illinois  occupied  at  this  time  by  Ameri- 
can pioneers.  In  La  Salle  County  were  three  small  settle- 
ments, including  Ottawa ;  Bureau  likewise  contained  three, 
the  most  northerly  being  at  Dad  Joe's  Grove,  a  famous 
stopping-place  on  the  old  Galena  trail  ;  in  northern  Lee 
was  La  Sallier's  trading-post,  established  as  early  as  1822, 
while  a  man  named  Ogee  had  operated  a  ferry  just  above 
Dixon  since  1827.  Savannah,  on  the  Mississippi,  had  in- 
habitants in  1828,  and  Rock  Island  in  1826.  In  Ogle,  old 
man  Kellogg  held  down  an  isolated  claim  about  the  grove 
perpetuating  his  name;  in  Stephenson,  O.  W.  Kellogg  set- 
tled in  1827,  and  there  were  a  cabin  or  two  amid  the  wilds  of 
Kendall  and  Will  Counties.  Chicago  was  the  merest  vil- 
lage, almost  lost  in  mud. 

Up  to  the  close  of  the   Black  Hawk  War,  Illinois,  in 


298  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

all  essential  features,  remained  the  far  frontier,  while  her 
population  exhibited  every  characteristic  of  the  border. 
Among  the  common  people,  the  niceties  of  dress  and  manners 
were  given  little  attention.  But  after  this  date  a  new  era 
dawned,  and  the  population  rapidly  changed  their  customs 
to  conform  with  fast  advancing  civilization.  The  original 
dress  of  the  territory,  which  had  been  a  raccoon-skin  cap, 
linsey  hunting-shirt,  buckskin  breeches,  and  moccasins,  with 
a  belt  around  the  waist,  to  which  were  attached  knife  and 
tomahawk,  gradually  disappeared,  until  it  was  .rarely  seen. 
The  costume  year  by  year  grew  more  to  conform  to  that  worn 
in  the  Eastern  States.  The  women  changed  in  this  respect 
even  more  rapidly  than  the  men.  The  old  cotton  and  woollen 
frocks,  spun,  woven,  and  made  with  their  own  hands,  and 
striped  and  cross-barred  with  blue  dye  and  turkey  red,  gave 
place  to  boughten  gowns  of  calico,  or  even  silk.  The  head, 
formerly  uncovered,  or  decorated  by  marvellous  sun-bonnets, 
became  crowned  with  wonders  of  millinery  art.  With  this 
pride  of  appearance  came  a  desire  for  comforts,  and  even 
luxury,  in  the  home  life.  The  log  cabins  were  abandoned  in 
the  little  timber  openings,  and  better  houses,  of  plank,  or 
stone,  built  on  the  previously  despised  open  prairie.  Vil- 
lages, springing  up  more  thickly,  began  at  once  to  exercise 
refining  influences  over  the  manners  and  habits  of  the  pre- 
viously isolated  settlers. 

During  all  these  years  of  slow  pioneer  advancement,  the 
pursuits  of  the  people,  other  than  the  professional  hunters, 
were  entirely  agricultural.  A  very  limited  number  of  mer- 
chants supplied  those  few  necessities  not  produced  or  manu- 
factured at  home,  while  far  apart  small  mills  were  operated. 
The  settler  raised  his  own  provisions  ;  tea  and  coffee  were 
almost  unknown  in  the  newer  settlements.  Ford  writes  of 
those  davs: 

j 

"  The  farmer's  sheep  furnished  wool  for  his  winter  clothing ; 
he  raised  cotton  and  flax  for  his  summer  clothing.  His  wife  and 


EARLY  AMERICAN  SETTLEMENTS  299 

daughters  spun,  wove,  and  made  it  into  garments.  A  little  cop- 
peras and  indigo,  with  the  bark  of  trees,  furnished  dye-stuffs  for 
coloring.  The  fur  of  the  raccoon  made  him  a  hat  or  cap.  The 
skins  of  deer,  or  of  his  own  cattle,  tanned  at  a  neighboring  tanyard, 
or  dressed  by  himself,  made  him  shoes  or  moccasins.  Boots  were 
rarely  seen,  even  in  the  towns.  And  a  log  cabin,  made  entirely  of 
wood,  without  glass,  nails,  hinges,  or  locks,  furnished  the  residence 
of  many  a  contented  and  happy  family.  The  people  were  quick 
and  ingenious  to  supply  by  invention,  and  with  their  own  hands, 
the  lack  of  mechanics  and  artificers.  Each  settler,  as  a  rule,  built 
his  own  house,  made  his  own  ploughs  and  harness,  bedsteads, 
chairs,  stools,  cupboards,  and  tables.  The  carts  and  wagons 
for  hauling  were  generally  made  without  iron,  without  tires  or 
boxes,  and  were  run  without  tar,  and  might  be  heard  creaking  as 
they  lumbered  along  the  roads,  for  the  distance  of  a  mile  or  more." 

In  this  connection,  Governor  Ford  relates  an  anecdote 
regarding  James  Lemon,  an  old-time  Baptist  preacher  of 
Monroe  County.  Mr.  Lemon  eked  out  his  somewhat  meagre 
salary  by  farming,  and  made  all  of  his  own  harness.  While 
breaking  a  bit  of  stubble-land,  he  turned  out  for  dinner, 
leaving  his  harness  on  the  plough-beam.  His  son,  thinking 
thus  to  avoid  an  afternoon's  hard  work,  hid  one  of  the 
horse-collars.  But  the  old  man  proved  fully  equal  to  the 
emergency.  Returning,  and  not  being  able  to  find  the  miss- 
ing collar,  he  mused  for  a  moment,  and  then,  to  the  great 
disappointment  of  Lemon,  junior,  deliberately  pulled  off  his 
leather  breeches,  stuffed  the  legs  with  stubble,  straddled 
them  across  the  neck  of  his  horse,  and  ploughed  the  rest  of 
the  day  as  bare-legged  as  he  came  into  the  world. 

Previous  to  1818  there  was  no  commerce  between  other 
settlements  and  the  Illinois,  except  the  small  traffic  carried 
on  by  the  French  in  their  unwieldy  barges  along  the  rivers. 
It  made  but  little  progress  during  the  period  extending  from 
that  date  to  1830.  Steamboats  became  somewhat  numerous 
on  Western  waters  by  1816,  and  a  few  years  later  one  or  two 
small  ones  were  operating  along  the  Illinois  River  as  far  as 


300  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Peoria,  and  possibly  farther.  The  old  keel-boats  rapidly 
disappeared,  yet  there  was  so  little  trade  that  steamboating 
was  for  considerable  time  far  from  profitable.  The  mer- 
chants in  the  little  villages,  having  usually  exceedingly 
small  capital,  were  mere  retailers  of  dry-goods  and  groceries  ; 
they  purchased  for  shipping  nothing  excepting  a  few  skins, 
and  a  little  tallow  and  beeswax.  These  men  rarely  paid  cash 
for  anything,  but  traded  for  the  goods  carried  in  stock.  In- 
deed, they  possessed  neither  capital  nor  talent  for  any  more 
liberal  line  of  trade,  the  development  of  which  had  to  wait 
patiently  until  the  country  became  older  and  more  thickly 
settled.  New  Orleans  remained  the  principal  market  for  the 
early  Illinois  country,  but  it  was  only  a  small  city,  and  was 
easily  glutted  by  any  over-production.  Because  of  this  lack 
of  merchants,  the  Illinois  producers  early  became  traders 
on  their  own  account.  Several  would  collect  a  quantity 
of  articles  believed  to  be  salable,  build  a  flat-bottomed 
boat,  load  their  wares  into  it,  and  float  down  to  New  Orleans 
and  a  market.  The  journey  home  was  usually  accom- 
plished on  foot,  and  such  ventures  seldom  proved  profitable. 
Among  all  these  earlier  settlers  who  made  homes  remote  from 
the  French  villages,  the  great  want  was  mills.  The  simplest 
modes  of  trituration,  as  Governor  Reynolds  depicts  them, 
were  by  means  of  the  grater  and  the  mortar.  The  first  con- 
sisted in  the  brisk  rubbing  of  an  ear  of  corn  over  a  piece  of 
tin  closely  pierced  or  indented.  The  mortar  was  extempo- 
rized by  excavating  with  fire  the  butt  of  a  good-sized  short 
log,  up-ended,  sufficiently  deep  to  hold  a  peck  or  more  of 
corn.  Over  this  was  erected  a  sweep  to  lift,  by  counter- 
traction,  a  piston  with  a  firm,  blunt  end,  which  pounded  the 
corn  into  a  coarse  meal.  To  these  primitive  and  laborious 
processes  succeeded,  in  order  of  their  simplicity,  and  in  due 
time,  hand-mills,  band-mills,  horse-mills,  and  last,  water- 
mills. 

After  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812,  the  new  arrivals  from 


EARLY  AMERICAN  SETTLEMENTS  301 

the  Eastern  States  brought  some  money  and  property  with 
them;  the  earliest  pioneers  had  had  little  or  none.  Before  this 
time  money  was  scarcely  ever  seen  in  the  country,  skins  being 
used  as  a  circulating  medium.  The  money  thus  brought  in, 
together  with  that  which  had  been  paid  to  the  volunteers 
during  the  war,  awakened  the  people  to  new  ambition,  so 
that  by  1819  the  entire  country  was  in  a  perfect  rage  for  spec- 
ulating in  land  and  town  lots.  The  Government  was  then 
selling  land  at  two  dollars  per  acre  ;  eighty  dollars  on  the 
quarter-section  to  be  paid  down  on  the  purchase,  with  a 
credit  of  five  years  for  the  remainder.  Everyone  on  hand 
began  to  invest,  expecting  to  reap  a  fortune  from  future- 
arriving  immigrants.  The  two  independent  banks  then 
organized  —  at  Edwardsville  and  Shawneetown  —  invested 
all  their  surplus  in  this  way,  and  loaned  freely  to  others  for 
the  same  purpose.  New  towns  were  laid  out  all  over  the 
country,  and  by  1820  nearly  the  entire  population  were 
deeply  involved.  But  the  expected  immigrants  failed  to 
arrive,  and,  consequently  the  whole  financial  structure  fell 
like  a  house  of  cards,  tying  up  the  entire  business  of  the  coun- 
try, and  for  years  following  money  was  almost  as  scarce  an 
article  as  in  the  earliest  days. 

It  was  not  until  1857  that  the  last  county  —  Douglass  - 
was  defined  and  organized.  This  was  in  the  eastern-central 
portion  of  the  State,  and  had  contained  settlers,  at  the  Ash- 
more  settlement,  near  its  southern  boundary,  from  an  early 
date.  Moreover,  the  old  French  trail  from  Kaskaskia  to 
Detroit  crossed  this  territory,  as  did  the  later  trail  running 
from  Terre  Haute  to  Fort  Clark.  The  picturesque  days  of 
the  frontier  had  by  this  time  almost  wholly  vanished,  and  the 
typical  bordermen,  who,  through  suffering  and  danger  and 
privation,  had  won  this  broad  domain  from  savagery,  had 
either  entirely  passed  from  the  earth,  or  drifted  on,  ever  in 
advance  of  civilization,  across  the  Mississippi.  The  age  de- 
picted, the  movements  traced,  poorly  picture  this  continuous 


302  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

struggle  against  nature  and  barbarism,  which  was  so  strongly 
fought  out  through  seventy-seven  years,  by  these  iron  heart- 
ed men  and  women  in  the  midst  of  the  vast  wilderness. 
From  the  moment  when  James  Moore  and  his  adventurous 
companions  first  set  foot  on  the  soil  of  Monroe  County, 
down  to  the  final  organization  of  Douglass,  there  was  no  halt- 
ing in  the  steady,  determined  advance  of  that  skirmish-line 
of  American  pioneers.  Through  wars  with  Indians  and  white 
antagonists;  through  months  of  dreary  Winter  and  parch- 
ing Summer;  through  danger  and  death,  hardship  and 
deprivation,  they  toiled  sternly,  each  year  witnessing  newly 
conquered  country,  settlements,  and  solitary  cabins  planted 
ever  farther  out  into  the  surrounding  wilderness.  Where 
neighbors  were  near  at  hand,  as  in  the  colony  settlements 
or  about  the  stockaded  forts,  much  of  frontier  merriment 
prevailed,  and  toil  was  made  sweeter  through  companion- 
ship. But  in  those  many  solitary  cabins,  sunk  deep  within 
the  heart  of  the  timber,  which  from  time  to  time  dotted 
the  banks  of  every  stream  from  the  Wabash  to  the  far-off 
Fever,  who  can  picture  the  intense  loneliness  of  their  in- 
habitants, or  compute  the  price  they  paid  for  what  is  ours 
to-day  ?  These  were  the  men,  women,  children,  who, 
through  self-sacrifice  and  toil,  peril,  and  desperate  lone- 
liness, won  this  great  domain  from  savagery  to  civilization. 


CHAPTER  XXI 
THE   STORY   OF   THE    CAPITAL 

THE  Illinois  country  had  been  duly  organized  into  a  Ter- 
ritory by  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  but  for  nearly  four 
years  following  no  attempt  was  made  to  select  or  convene 
any  legislative  body.  By  reason  of  extraordinary  powers, 
conferred  upon  him  through  special  Act  of  Congress,  the 
Governor  was  not  only  an  executive,  but  likewise  to  a  great 
degree  the  law-making  power  of  this  sparsely  occupied 
region.  Under  the  terms  of  that  justly  celebrated  ordinance 
-  a  curiosity  still  to  the  student  of  republican  institutions  — 
the  private  citizen  was  apparently  considered  as  of  no  par- 
ticular, account.  He  was  not  permitted  to  exercise  the 
elective  franchise,  unless  he  was  a  freeholder  of  fifty  acres, 
nor  could  he  hope  for  election  to  legislative  honors,  without 
possessing  two  hundred  acres.  All  the  Territorial  officials 
not  directly  named  by  the  President  in  person  were  to  be 
appointed  by  the  Governor.  The  latter  was  permitted  the 
privilege  of  convening  a  legislature  whenever  he  became 
fully  convinced  that  a  majority  of  the  freeholders  desired  it. 
Judging  from  results,  no  Governor  was  ever  so  convinced, 
for,  in  spite  of  a  continuous  and  increasing  clamor,  amount- 
ing almost  to  an  uproar,  on  the  part  of  the  settlers,  no  such 
call  was  issued  until  Congress  once  again  took  hold  of 
the  matter,  and  thus  afforded  partial  relief  to  the  perplexed 
and  disfranchised  citizens. 

By  the  Act  of  May  21,  1812,  Illinois  was  duly  advanced 
to  the  second  grade  of  Territorial  government.  By  this 
action  the  right  of  suffrage  was  specifically  extended  to  any 
white  male  person,  twenty-one  years  old,  who  had  paid  a 


304  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Territorial  tax,  and  resided  in  the  Territory  for  one  year 
preceding  any  election.  Property  qualifications  were  abol- 
ished. For  such  purposes  of  voting  the  Governor  was 
required  to  apportion  the  Territory.  A  vote  to  get  an  ex- 
pression from  the  people  for  or  against  entering  upon  this 
second  grade  of  Territorial  government  was  held  during 
three  successive  days,  beginning  on  the  second  Monday  in 
April,  1812.  The  question  was  decided  in  the  affirmative 
by  a  large  majority.  At  once  the  Governor,  assisted  by  the 
judges,  organized  the  new  counties  of  Madison,  Gallatin, 
and  Johnson,  which,  with  the  two  old  counties  of  St.  Clair 
and  Randolph,  made  a  total  of  five.  September  16,  a 
proclamation  was  issued,  publishing  their  establishment  and 
boundaries.  On  the  same  date,  a  call  was  issued  for  the 
election  of  five  members  of  the  new  Legislative  Council, 
seven  representatives,  and  a  delegate  to  Congress.  The 
time  set  was  the  eighth,  ninth,  and  tenth  days  of  October, 
in  each  county.  The  voting-places  were:  Madison  County, 
the  house  of  Thomas  Kirkpatrick;  St.  Clair  County,  at  the 
Court-house  in  Cahokia;  Randolph  County,  the  Court- 
house of  Kaskaskia;  Gallatin  County,  at  Shawneetown; 
and  for  the  county  of  Johnson,  at  the  house  of  John  Brad- 
shaw.  By  the  resulting  vote  of  the  people,  Shadrach  Bond, 
one  among  the  earliest  settlers  of  the  Territory,  a  nephew 
of  that  Shadrach  Bond  who  first  came  to  New  Design  in 
1783,  and  later  the  first  Governor  of  the  State,  was  elected 
to  Congress.  The  members  chosen  to  the  Legislative 
Council  were  Pierre  Menard,  of  Randolph,  selected  to  pre- 
side; William  Biggs,  of  St.  Clair;  Samuel  Judy,  of  Madi- 
son; Thomas  Ferguson,  of  Johnson  and  Benjamin  Talbot, 
of  Gallatin.  Those  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
were:  George  Fisher,  of  Randolph;  Joshua  Oglesby  and 
Jacob  Short,  of  St.  Clair;  William  Jones,  of  Madison;  Phi- 
lip Trammel  and  Alexander  Wilson,  of  Gallatin;  and  John 
Grammar,  of  Johnson. 


THE  STORT  OF  THE  CAPITAL  305 

From  Davidson  and  Stuve's  "  History  of  Illinois  "  we  take 
the  following  brief  pen-pictures  of  these  pioneer  legislators 
for  this  infant  Territory: 

"  Pierre  Menard,  a  Canadian  Frenchman,  settled  at  Kaskaskia 
in  1790.  He  was  a  merchant,  and  enjoyed  an  extensive  trade 
with  the  Indians,  over  whom  he  exerted  a  great  influence,  and  was 
for  many  years  the  Government  Agent  for  them.  He  was  well  in- 
formed, energetic,  frank,  and  honest,  and  was  very  popular  with  all 
classes.  William  Biggs  was  an  intelligent  and  respectable  member, 
who  had  been  a  soldier  in  Clark's  expedition,  and  ten  years  after- 
wards had  been  a  prisoner  for  several  years  among  the  Kickapoos. 
He  wrote  and  published  a  complete  narrative  of  his  Indian  captivity, 
and,  in  1826,  Congress  voted  him  three  sections  of  land.  He  was 
for  many  years  County  Judge.  Samuel  "Judy  —  the  same  who,  in 
the  Fall  preceding,  commanded  the  corps  of  spies  in  Governor 
Edwards's  military  campaign  to  Peoria  Lake — was  a  man  of 
energy,  fortitude,  and  enterprise.  Some  of  his  descendants  now 
reside  in  Madison  County.  "Joshua  Oglesby  was  a  local  Methodist 
preacher  of  ordinary  education,  who  lived  on  a  farm,  and  was 
greatly  respected  by  his  neighbors.  "Jacob  Short,  the  colleague  of 
Oglesby,  removed  to  Illinois  with  his  father,  Moses,  in  1796,  and 
pursued  farming.  During  the  War  of  1812,  he  distinguished  him- 
self as  a  ranger.  George  Fisher  possessed  a  fair  education,  and  was 
by  profession  a  physician.  He  removed  from  Virginia  to  Kaskas- 
kia in  1800,  and  engaged  in  merchandising,  but  at  this  time  he 
resided  on  a  farm.  Philip  Trammel  was  a  man  of  discriminating 
mind,  inclined  to  the  profession  of  arms.  He  was  the  lessee  of  the 
United  States  Saline  in  Gallatin  County.  His  colleague,  Alexander 
Wilson,  was  a  popular  tavern-keeper  at  Shawneetown,  of  fair  abili- 
ties. William  Jones  was  a  Baptist  preacher,  grave  in  his  deportment, 
and  possessed  of  moderate  abilities.  He  was  born  in  North  Carolina, 
removed  to  Illinois  in  1806,  and  settled  in  the  Rattan  prairie,  east 
of  Alton.  This  was  the  first  appearance  in  public  life  of  John 
Grammar.  He  afterwards  represented  Union  County  frequently 
during  a  period  of  twenty  years.  He  had  no  education,  yet  was  a 
man  of  shrewdness.  After  his  election,  it  is  related  that,  to  pro- 
cure the  necessary  apparel  to  appear  at  the  seat  of  government,  he 


306  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  the  family  gathered  a  large  quantity  of  hickory  nuts,  which 
were  taken  to  the  Ohio  Saline  and  traded  off  for  blue  strouding, 
such  as  the  Indians  usually  wore  for  breech-cloth.  When  the 
neighboring  women  assembled  to  make  up  the  garments,  it  was 
found  that  he  had  not  invested  quite  enough  nuts.  The  pattern 
was  measured  in  every  way  possible,  but  was  unmistakably  scant. 
Whereupon  it  was  decided  to  make  a  bob-tailed  coat,  and  a  long 
pair  of  leggings.  Arrayed  in  these  he  duly  appeared  at  the  seat  of 
government,  where  he  continued  to  wear  his  primitive  suit  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  session.  Notwithstanding  his  illiteracy,  he  had 
the  honor  of  originating  the  practice,  much  followed  by  public  men 
since,  of  voting  against  all  new  measures — it  being  easier  to  con- 
ciliate public  opinion  for  being  remiss  in  voting  for  a  good  measure, 
than  to  suffer  arraignment  for  aiding  in  the  passage  of  an  unpopular 
one." 

By  proclamation  of  the  Governor,  this  interesting  and 
pioneer  legislative  body  convened  at  the  seat  of  government 
in  Kaskaskia  on  November  25.  The  two  houses  met  in 
a  large,  rough,  old  building  of  uncut  limestone,  having  a 
steep  roof  and  gables  of  unpainted  boards,  with  dormer- 
windows,  situated  in  the  centre  of  a  square>  and  which,  after 
the  partial  ruin  and  abandonment  of  Fort  Chartres,  had 
been  utilized  by  the  French  as  headquarters  for  the  military 
commandant.  Some  able  historians  assert  that  this  building, 
rather  than  Fort  Gage,  was  the  British  military  headquarters 
captured  by  General  Clark  in  1778.  The  lower  floor,  which 
consisted  of  one  large,  cheerless  room,  with  very  low  ceiling, 
was  roughly  fitted  up  for  the  use  of  the  House,  while  a  smaller 
upper  chamber  was  given  over  to  the  deliberations  of  the 
Council.  The  latter  body  chose  John  Thomas  as  their  sec- 
retary, while  the  House  elected  for  clerk  William  C.  Green- 
up.  The  two  bodies  possessed  a  doorkeeper  in  common. 
All  the  twelve  members,  we  are  solemnly  informed,  boarded 
with  one  family,  and,  it  is  suspected,  lodged  in  a  single  room. 
The  difference  exhibited  here  in  comparison  with  more 
modern  legislative  customs  is  very  marked,  and  was  scarcely 


THE  STORT  OF  THE  CAPITAL  307 

less  conspicuous  in  other  matters.  History  tells  us  that 
these  primitive  law-makers  of  Illinois  addressed  themselves 
diligently  to  the  business  in  hand,  making  no  effort  at  delay 
or  circumlocution.  Windy  speeches  and  violent  contentions 
were  unheard  of,  and  parliamentary  tacticians,  if  any  such 
were  present,  met  with  sudden  squelching.  It  has  been 
naively  remarked  that  not  a  lawyer  appears  on  the  roll  of 
names.  It  is  reported,  possibly  by  political  enemies,  then  as 
now  extremely  active,  that  at  the  conclusion  of  each  legis- 
lative session  the  long  table  was  promptly  cleared,  and  the 
weary  statesmen  regaled  themselves  by  playing  the  popular 
game  of  bung-loo. 

The  scope  of  this  charter  makes  any  extended  review 
of  laws  enacted  impossible,  but  it  may  be  well  to  mention 
a  few  of  the  more  stringent  and  peculiar.  Beginning  with 
a  totally  blank  legislative  page,  attention  was  early  addressed 
to  criminal  affairs,  and  a  degree  of  punishment  for  crime 
adopted  strange  to  these  later  and  more  fastidious  days. 
For  felonies  and  misdemeanors,  whipping  on  the  bare  back, 
confinement  in  stocks,  standing  in  the  pillory,  and  branding 
with  hot  irons,  were  the  penalties  prescribed,  in  addition  to 
fines,  imprisonment,  and  loss  of  citizenship.  The  number  of 
stripes  to  be  inflicted  was  prescribed  with  painful  accuracy: 
for  burglary,  39;  perjury,  larceny,  etc.,  31;  horse  steal- 
ing, first  offence,  50  to  100;  hog-stealing,  25  to  39;  defacing 
brands,  40  ;  bigamy,  from  100  to  300.  .  Besides  in  cases  of 
treason  and  murder,  death  by  hanging  was  pronounced 
against  arson,  rape,  and  second-offence  horse-stealing.  In 
case  of  debt,  if  the  property  found  was  not  sufficient  to 
liquidate  the  obligation,  the  body  of  the  debtor  might  be 
seized  and  cast  into  prison.  The  Territorial  revenue  was 
raised  by  a  tax  on  lands;  the  county  revenue,  chiefly  by  a 
tax  on  personal  property,  including  slaves.  Able-bodied 
single  men,  owning  two  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  taxable 
property,  were  assessed  one  dollar  each.  The  entire  Terri- 


3o8  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

to  rial  revenue  from  November  I,  1811,  to  November  8,  1814, 
amounted  to  but  $4,875.45,  while  of  this  less  than  half 
had  been  actually  paid  into  the  treasury,  the  remainder  being 
in  the  hands  of  delinquent  sheriffs,  of  whom  there  were 
apparently  a  large  number.  In  1816,  an  act  was  passed 
preventing  Indiana  attorneys  from  practising  in  Illinois, 
while  in  1817  the  Territory  was  carefully  parcelled  out 
between  the  medical  doctors  —  all  newcomers  to  be 
examined  by  the  old  practitioners,  and  then,  at  their  dis- 
cretion, on  the  payment  of  ten  dollars,  possibly  allowed 
to  practise.  This  delightful  condition  prevailed  until  the 
Territory  was  made  into  a  State,  when  it  was  promptly 
corrected. 

During  the  Territorial  existence  of  Illinois,  three  such 
general  assemblies  were  elected  by  the  people  —  the  Council 
holding  over  the  second  term.  In  1817,  Colonel  Benjamin 
Stephenson  was  selected  as  delegate  to  Congress,  and  in 
1816  Nathaniel  Pope  was  given  similar  honor.  Ten  new 
counties  were  meanwhile  organized,  and  their  boundaries 
defined. 

By  the  year  1818  Illinois  had  sufficiently  increased  in 
population  to  aspire  to  a  position  among  the  sisterhood  of 
States.  Nathaniel  Pope,  then  delegate  in  Congress,  pre- 
sented the  necessary  petition  to  that  body,  and  in  due  time 
a  bill  was  reported  for  the  admission  of  Illinois  with  an  esti- 
mated population  of  forty  thousand.  This  was  probably 
an  over-estimate.  In  defining  the  permanent  boundaries  of 
the  new  State,  it  was  owing  to  the  vigilance  of  Mr.  Pope  that 
we  are  to-day  indebted  for  the  coast  on  Lake  Michigan,  the 
site  of  Chicago,  the  northern  terminus  of  the  Illinois  and 
Michigan  Canal,  and  the  lead  mines  of  Galena.  By  the 
language  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  all  this  region  should 
have  remained  a  portion  of  Wisconsin.  In  pursuance  of 
this  enabling  act,  a  convention  was  called  to  draught  the 
first  constitution  of  the  new  State.  The  meeting  was  held 


THE  STORT  OF  THE  CAPITAL  309 

at  Kaskaskia,  in  the  same  old  building  used  for  nine  years 
previous  by  the  Territorial  legislature,  beginning  in  July, 
1818,  and  completing  its  labors  on  the  twenty-sixth  of 
August  following.  Of  this  body,  consisting  of  thirty-three 
members,  Jesse  B.  Thomas  was  chosen  president,  and 
William  C.  Greenup  named  as  secretary. 

The  constitution  thus  adopted  was  never  submitted  to 
any  ratifying  vote  of  the  people,  nor  by  it  were  they  left  very 
much  choice,  even  in  the  selection  of  their  more  important 
State  officers.  While  the  election  franchise  was  extended  to 
embrace  all  white  male  inhabitants  above  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  yet  these  electors  were  not  trusted  to  vote  except  for  gov- 
ernors, tli^ General  Assembly, sheriffs,  and  coroners;  all  other 
State  and  tounty  officials  being  appointive  with  the  General 
Assembly.,  The  first  election  under  this  constitution  —  the 
defects"of  which  were  early  apparent  —  was  held  in  Septem- 
ber, 1818  ;  and  Shadrach  Bond  was  selected  as  Governor, 
with  Pierre  Menard,  Lieutenant-Governor.  There  was  no 
other  ticket  in  the  field.  Their  period  of  service  was  for  four 
years.  By  the  terms  of  the  document  issued  by  the  State 
Constitutional  Convention,  the  seat  of  government  was  to 
remain  at  Kaskaskia  until  the  General  Assembly  should 
otherwise  direct.  With  this  change  in  view,  that  body  was 
required  at  its  first  session  to  petition  Congress  to  grant  to 
the  State  a  quantity  of  land,  to  consist  of  not  more  than  four 
and  not  less  than  one  section,  or  to  give  to  the  State  the  right 
of  preemption  in  the  purchase  of  that  quantity,  the  land  to 
be  situated  on  the  Kaskaskia  River,  and,  as  near  as  might 
be,  east  of  the  third  principal  meridian,  .on  that  river.  Should 
this  request  be  granted,  the  General  Assembly,  at  its  next 
following  session,  was  required  to  appoint  five  commissioners 
to  make  selection  of  the  land  and  provide  for  the  laying  out 
of  a  town  upon  it;  which  town,  it  was  declared,  should 
remain  the  seat  of  government  for  a  term  of  twenty  years. 
From  outside  reports  it  appears  that  when  this  subject  was 


3io  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

being  considered  by  the  convention,  two  points  were  contem- 
plated and  debated  upon.  One  was  Carlyle,  just  located 
on  the  Kaskaskia  River  by  two  Virginia  gentlemen  ;  the 
other  an  elevated  spot,  higher  up  the  river,  known  as  Pope's 
Bluff,  the  property  of  Nathaniel  Pope.  Ford  writes: 

"  He  [Pope]  and  his  friends  were,  of  course,  extremely  anxious 
that  the  seat  of  government  should  be  located  there,  while  the  pro- 
prietors of  Carlyle  were  fully  as  desirous  that  their  position  should 
find  favor.  In  midst  of  the  discussion  which  ensued  over  these 
conflicting  interests,  a  well-known  hunter  and  trapper,  named 
Reeves,  who  had  a  lonely  cabin  still  higher  up  the  river,  wandered 
in,  and  became  deeply  interested.  In  glowing  terms  he  depicted 
the  superior  beauty  of  Reeve's  Bluff*,  insisting  warmly  that  c  Pope's 
BlufF,  er  Carlyle  neither,  wasn't  a  primin'  ter  his  bluff.'  Such  was 
the  force  of  his  representations  that  the  language  of  the  original 
bill  was  sufficiently  altered  to  admit  of  his  site.  Strange  to  say, 
when,  in  1818,  commissioners  were  finally  appointed  to  select  the 
land  which  had  been  granted  by  Congress  they  fixed  upon  the  home 
of  the  old  hunter  at  Reeve's  Bluff." 

It  was,  indeed,  a  most  attractive  spot,  a  heavily  wooded 
tract,  covered  by  gigantic  trees,  well  elevated,  and  sightly. 
The  only  seeming  disadvantage  of  this  position  for  the 
State  capital  was,  that,  at  that  early  day,  it  was  in  the  midst 
of  an  almost  untouched  wilderness,  lying  considerably  north- 
east of  the  principal  settlements  of  the  country.  However, 
with  abundant  faith  in  the  future,  work  upon  the  new  site 
was  at  once  begun,  and  the  town  laid  out  with  a  handsome 
square  and  broad  streets.  Governor  Ford  records  : 

"  After  the  place  had  been  selected,  it  became  a  matter  of  great 
interest  to  give  it  a  good-sounding  name,  one  which  would  please 
the  ear,  and  at  the  same  time  have  the  classic  merit  of  perpetuating 
the  memory  of  the  ancient  race  of  Indians  by  whom  the  country 
had  first  been  inhabited.  Tradition  says  that  a  wag  who  was  pres- 
ent suggested  to  the  commissioners  that  the  Vandals  were  a  power- 
ful nation  of  Indians  who  once  inhabited  the  banks  of  the  Kas- 
kaskia River,  and  that  '  Vandalia,'  formed  from  their  name,  would 


THE  STORT  OF  THE  CAPITAL  311 

perpetuate  the  memory  of  that  extinct  but  renowned  people. 
The  suggestion  pleased  the  commissioners,  the  name  was  adopted, 
and  they  thus  proved  that  the  name  of  their  new  city  (if  they  were 
fit  representatives  of  their  constituents)  would  better  illustrate  the 
character  of  the  modern  than  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the 
country." 

Indeed,  the  first  workmen  on  the  site  were  sufficiently 
vandals  to  cut  down  and  saw  into  cord-wood  every  one  of 
those  magnificent  forest  trees,  leaving  not  a  single  specimen 
to  sigh  in  the  Summer  wind,  or  bend  to  the  blast. 

In  Judge  Caton's  address  reviewing  these  interesting 
events,  he  says  of  this  new  town  • 

"  Lots  were  sold  at  public  auction  on  credit,  at  fabulous 
prices,  few  of  which  were  paid  in  full.  The  enterprising  and 
scheming  came  to  it,  some  from  the  Old  World,  and  soon  the 
nucleus  of  a  town  was  formed.  Measures  were  inaugurated  for 
the  erection  of  a  State  House,  which  culminated  in  a  plain  two- 
story  frame  building,  of  rude  architecture,  set  upon  a  rough  stone 
foundation,  and  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  square,  the  lower  floor 
of  which  was  devoted  to  a  passage  and  stairway  to  the  upper  story, 
and  a  large,  plain  room,  devoid  of  ornament  (for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  House).  The  upper  floor  was  divided  into  two  rooms, 
the  largest  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Senate,  and  the  smaller 
one  for  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State,  the  Auditor  and  Treasurer 
occupying  a  detached  building,  hired  for  that  purpose.  No  cere- 
monies were  observed  in  laying  the  corner-stone  of  this  unsightly 
structure ;  no  music  disturbed  the  solitude  of  the  forest,  then  in  its 
primeval  beauty;  no  crowd  in  pageantry  lent  excitement  to  the 
scene ;  no  sound  was  heard  save  the  rap  of  the  mason's  hammer, 
and  the  sharp  clicks  of  the  trowel." 

Soon  after  this  indifferent  building  was  completed,  final 
steps  were  taken  for  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  government 
from  old  Kaskaskia,  where,  under  French,  English,  and 
American  rule,  it  had  been  located  for  more  than  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years.  In  one  small  wagon,  and  at  a  single 
load,  the  entire  State  archives  were  transported  to  Vandalia. 


3i2  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Undoubtedly,  much  of  great  historical  value  was  lost  at  this 
time.  Sidney  Breese,  clerk  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  and 
Mr.  Kane,  had  them  in  charge,  and  the  road  being  poor,  at 
several  points  a  path  had  to  be  cut  through  the  woods. 
When  they  arrived  at  the  new  Capitol,  they  found  the  building 
occupied  as  a  temporary  home  by  the  Auditor,  Elijah  C. 
Berry,  with  his  family.  These,  however,  were  soon  induced 
to  remove  to  an  adjacent  cabin,  and  a  little  later,  the  first 
session  of  the  legislature  convened  at  Vandalia.  This  struc- 
ture in  which  they  met  was  totally  destroyed  by  fire,  breaking 
out  at  2  A.  M.,  December  9,  1823.  So  rapidly  did  the  flames 
spread,  that  not  a  single  article  of  furniture  was  saved.  Be- 
sides most  important  State  documents,  some  of  inestimable 
value,  all  the  books,  and  papers  belonging  to  the  office  of 
the  United  States  Land  Receiver,  were  likewise  destroyed. 
The  cause  of  the  fire  was  never  ascertained.  A  subscription 
paper  was  immediately  started,  to  which  the  citizens  of 
Vandalia  contributed  liberally,  and  in  three  days  three 
thousand  dollars  was  raised.  To  take  the  place  of  this 
destroyed  capitol,  a  commodious  brick  building  was  con- 
structed, which  still  stands,  for  many  years  containing  the 
county  offices  for  Fayette  County.  It  may  be  of  interest 
to  note,  in  this  connection,  the  pay  of  State  officials  at  this 
time.  The  salaries  of  the  Governor  and  the  supreme 
judges  were  one  thousand  dollars  each;  Secretary  of  State 
and  Auditor,  five  hundred  dollars;  all  payable  quarterly. 
The  allowance  to  legislators  per  diem,  was  four  dollars, 
while  presiding  officers  received  five  dollars. 

Long  before  the  twenty-year  term  assigned  to  Vandalia 
had  expired,  numerous  ambitious  cities  throughout  the  State 
were  in  the  field,  anxious  to  be  selected  as  the  new  and  per- 
manent capital.  Under  the  pressure  thus  constantly  exerted 
for  a  change,  a  commission  was  appointed  to  consider  the 
matter,  and,  when  a  new  legislature  was  being  voted  for,  the 
people  themselves  were  requested  to  express  their  preference 


THE  STORT  OF  THE  CAPITAL  313 

at  the  ballot-box  regarding  the  six  different  cities  diligently 
seeking  the  choice.  Much  interest  was  taken,  the  result  of 
the  vote  being  as  follows:  Alton,  7,514;  Vandalia,  7,148; 
Springfield,  7,044;  the  geographical  centre  (Illiopolis),  744; 
Peoria,  486;  Jacksonville,  272.  This  election  was  held 
in  August,  1834,  and  from  its  results  Alton  was  plainly 
designated  as  the  choice  of  the  majority  of  the  voters.  But 
it  requires  something  more  than  votes  to  construct  a  capi- 
tal; the  legislature  took  no  action,  and  consequently  noth- 
ing resulted.  But  the  question  of  removal  would  not  down, 
and  it  became  more  and  more  plainly  apparent  that  the  un- 
fortunate situation  of  Vandalia  made  it  impossible  to  retain 
the  seat  of  State  government  at  that  place  much  longer. 
In  those  days  of  overland  journeys,  it  was  convenient  to 
comparatively  few,  and  becoming  less  so  with  every  year, 
because  of  the  increase  of  immigration  northward. 

Springfield,  greatly  encouraged  by  the  unexpectedly 
large  vote  received  in  1834,  never  let  up  in  agitating  the  mat- 
ter of  a  change;  and  two  years  later  there  was  in  the  House 
a  delegation  from  Sangamon  County  of  unusual  influence 
and  ability.  The  delegates  were  nine  in  number,  popularly 
known  as  the  "  long  nine  "  because  they  averaged  six  feet 
in  height,  some  more  and  some  less  —  there  being  precisely 
fifty-four  feet  in  their  combined  stature.  These  men 
were  able,  persistent,  and  dextrous  political  manipulators, 
a  unit  upon  all  questions  appertaining  to  the  welfare  of 
Sangamon,  and  they  pushed  the  Capital  bill  strongly  for  the 
benefit  of  Springfield.  These  men  were:  A.  G.  Herndon 
and  Job  Fletcher,  Senators ;  Representatives,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  Ninian  W.  Edwards,  Dan  Stone,  John  Dawson, 
W.  F.  Elkin,  Andrew  McCormick,  and  Robert  L.  Wilson. 
By  February  28,  1837,  they  had  actually  forced  the  reluctant 
legislature  to  final  action,  and  a  vote  was  taken  much  after 
the  manner  followed  in  the  selection  of  United  States  Sena- 
tors. Twenty-nine  places  were  presented  and  voted  upon. 


314  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Springfield  started  with  thirty-five  votes,  but  on  the  fourth 
ballot  it  reached  seventy-three,  which  was  a  strong  majority. 
The  location  having  thus  been  definitely  determined,  fifty 
thousand  dollars  was  at  once  appropriated  for  the  erection 
of  a  State  House  on  the  new  site,  but  the  act  was  to  be  null 
and  void  unless  an  equal  amount  should  be  subscribed  by 
individuals  prior  to  May  i.  Springfield  agreed  to  donate  two 
acres  of  ground,  in  addition,  without  expense  to  the  State. 
This  being  satisfactorily  arranged  by  the  date  set,  the  legis- 
lature met  first  in  Springfield  (in  extraordinary  session) 
December  9,  1839;  but  as  the  new  Capitol  was  then  far  from 
being  completed,  the  House  convened  in  the  Second  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  the  Senate  in  the  First  Methodist, 
which  was  an  old  frame  structure.  The  Supreme  Court 
held  its  sessions  in  the  Episcopal  Chapel. 

It  was  not  until  the  War  of  1812  that  the  attractions  and 
fertility  of  what  has  since  been  named  Sangamon  County 
began  to  be  known  to  the  earlier  Illinois  settlers,  who  up  to 
that  date  had  hardly  penetrated  north  of  Madison  County, 
excepting  along  the  rivers. 

The  Indian  name  applied  to  all  this  region  was  "  San- 
gamo,"  meaning  "the  country  where  there  is  plenty  to  eat," 
and  the  volunteers  marching  wearily  across  it  in  Edwards's 
advance  to  Peoria  Lake,  on  returning  home,  scattered  widely 
among  their  neighbors  vivid  descriptions  of  the  beauty  of 
this  newly  discovered  land.  The  "  St.  Gamo  Kedentry," 
as  it  was  pronounced  in  the  vernacular,  immediately  became 
famous,  and  scarcely  had  the  war  ceased  before  hardy,  ad- 
venturous settlers  began  to  erect  their  little  log  cabins  along 
the  timbered  streams.  In  the  Autumn  of  1819,  a  family 
of  emigrants,  originally  from  North  Carolina,  by  the  name 
of  Kelly,  encamped  on  the  right  bank  of  Spring  Creek,  in 
the  western  part  of  the  present  city  of  Springfield.  Here 
they  decided  upon  making  their  future  home,  and  thus  be- 
came the  earliest  settlers.  Two  years  later,  the  county  was 


- 

CO 


H 

CO 


X 
i        H 


THE  STORT  OF  THE  CAPITAL  315 

organized,  the  county  seat  being  fixed  at  Kelly's;  and  in 
recognition  of  his  field  and  Spring  Creek, —  at  least  so  the 
story  goes, —  the  embryo  city  was  given  its  rather  unhappy 
name  of  Springfield.  Even  in  this  choice  of  a  county  seat 
the  fate  of  the  future  capital  hung  for  a  while  in  the  bal- 
ance, and  was  finally  decided  by  a  somewhat  dubious  trick, 
according  to  a  volume  of  the  "  Springfield  City  Ordi- 
nances." A  previous  election  to  the  legislature  had  turned 
entirely  upon  this  question  of  location.  W.  S.  Hamilton, 
son  of  the  great  Alexander  Hamilton,  favored  Sangamo 
Town,  a  beautiful  elevated  bluff  on  the  river,  in  which  he 
was  personally  interested,  lying  seven  miles  northwest. 
Jonathan  H.  Pugh  was  the  Springfield  candidate,  and  Ham- 
ilton, receiving  the  majority  of  votes,  was  elected.  It  seemed 
then  as  if  Springfield's  hopes  were  finally  doomed,  but,  as  a 
last  resort,  a  sufficient  fund  was  raised,  and  the  defeated 
candidate,  Pugh,  despatched  to  Vandalia  to  labor  in  the 
lobby.  So  well  did  he  perform  this  task  that  Hamilton  not 
only  failed  to  get  his  beloved  Sangamo  Town  named  as 
county  seat,  but  a  legislative  committee  was  appointed  to 
visit  both  sites  and  decide  ori  a  location.  The  committee 
chanced  to  reach  Springfield  first;  were  most  royally  enter- 
tained by  the  hopeful  citizens,  and  loaded  into  carriages  to 
be  driven  to  Sangamo  Town.  It  is  to  be  feared  the  drivers 
selected  were  rabid  Springfield  partisans,  as  they  chose  a 
road  leading  across  much  low,  wet  land,  through  sloughs 
and  mudholes.  The  way  became  particularly  horrible  as 
they  drew  closer  to  the  proposed  site,  and  in  utter  disgust 
the  committee  left  the  ambitious  Sangamo  to  its  former 
obscurity. 

At  the  time  of  the  selection  of  Springfield  as  the  future 
State  capital,  the  village  contained  a  population  of  1,100, 
and  was  little  more  than  a  straggling  frontier  hamlet,  the 
buildings  small  and  unpretentious.  The  corner-stone  of 
the  State  Building  was  laid  July  4,  1837,  E.  D.  Baker  being 


316  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

the  orator  of  the  occasion.  The  estimated  cost  of  the 
structure  was  only  $130,000,  but,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  the 
actual  cost  was  nearly  one  hundred  per  cent  more.  At  first 
it  was  the  wonder  of  all  the  country  around,  settlers  travelling 
for  long  distances  merely  to  gaze  upon  it  in  speechless  awe, 
but  this  feeling,  before  many  years,  died  away,  as  the  citizens 
began  to  realize  that  it  was  far  from  being  large  enough  to 
meet  the  fast-growing  requirements  of  the  State.  In  less 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  public  demand  was  aroused  for 
a  new  building.  Population  had  increased  marvellously, — 
in  1840  to  476,183;  in  1865  to  2,141,510.  It  was  during 
the  legislative  session  of  this  last-mentioned  year  that  a  bill 
was  introduced  advocating  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment to  Peoria.  Other  cities  began  at  once  to  join  in 
the  clamor,  urging  their  own  superior  claims,  and  Spring- 
field became  justly  alarmed.  Much  dissatisfaction  with 
existing  conditions  was  in  evidence  all  over  the  State,  but  it 
apparently  centred  in  Springfield's  miserable  hotel  accom- 
modation and  exorbitant  charges. 

The  citizens  of  the  capital  city  rose  to  the  emergency, 
building  the  magnificent  Leland  Hotel,  and,  at  the  next 
legislative  meeting,  made  to  the  State  most  liberal  offers; 
the  county  of  Sangamon  agreed  to  purchase  the  old  State 
House  and  square  for  $200,000,  to  be  converted  into  a  court- 
house, while  the  city  council  offered  a  seven-acre  lot,  in  the 
very  heart  of  the  city,  at  a  cost  of  $62,000,  as  a  site  for  the 
new  Capitol.  Feeling  ran  extremely  high,  and  the  ladies 
of  Springfield  thronged  the  visitors'  gallery,  and  vied  with 
each  other  in  extending  social  courtesies  to  the  legislators. 
With  all  these  latter  gentlemen,  at  last,  apparently  in  a 
proper  frame  of  mind  for  favorable  action,  a  bill  for  a 
new  State  House  to  be  erected  at  Springfield  was  diplomat- 
ically introduced,  and  finally  forced  to  a  passage,  February 
25, 1867.  It  limited  the  cost  of  the  new  Capitol  to  $3,000,000. 
This  result,  however,  was  not  accomplished  without  oppo- 


THE  STORr  OF  THE  CAPITAL  317 

sition  and  extended  debate;  one  extremely  humorous  speech 
by  Mr.  Voris  advocated  the  dislocation  of  the  Capitol,  and 
the  holding  of  a  peregrinating  legislature  by  railroad,  which 
should  stop  at  every  place  where  a  notice  appeared  that  it 
was  wanted. 

The  work  of  building  was  hurriedly  begun;  but  oppo- 
sition throughout  the  State  was  far  from  being  dead,  and 
much  delay  was  occasioned  by  the  acts  of  rival  cities,  and  the 
unwillingness  of  the  legislature  to  be  liberal  in  expenditure. 
Decatur  sued  out  a  writ  of  quo  ivarranto  directed  against 
the  building  commissioners,  and  the  case  was  threshed  out 
in  the  Supreme  Court  to  Decatur's  final  defeat.  The  con- 
stant necessity  of  increasing  appropriations  to  meet  the  cost 
of  construction  led  Peoria  to  make  a  munificent  offer  for  the 
seat  of  government  —  she  pledged  herself  to  reimburse  the 
State  to  the  full  amount  already  expended,  donate  a  beau- 
tiful ten-acre  lot,  and  furnish,  free  of  rent  for  five  years,  suit- 
able accommodation  for  the  legislature.  This  offer  aroused 
the  interest  of  the  State  to  fever  heat,  and  the  two  houses 
accepted  a  free  excursion  to  Peoria,  where  they  were  royally 
entertained  by  the  enthusiastic  citizens,  and  carefully  shown 
every  point  of  interest  thereabout.  For  a  time  the  fate  of 
Springfield  hung  once  more  trembling  in  the  balance,  every- 
thing resting  upon  the  passing  of  the  appropriation  bill. 
This  was  fought  to  the  last  possible  moment  with  great 
bitterness  and  with  every  device  known  to  parliamentary 
law;  but,  finally,  at  ten  o'clock  at  night,  June  7,  1871,  it 
was  passed  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  to  seventy-four. 
Peoria's  apple  of  hope  was  turned  to  ashes,  and  Springfield 
remained  the  capital  of  Illinois.  The  Capitol  Building 
was  completed  in  1887,  at  a  cost  of  over  $4,000,000. 


CHAPTER  XXII 
THE    BATTLE    AGAINST  SLAVERY 

AS  far  back  as  1720  the  spectre  of  the  black  slave  began 
to  cast  its  baleful  shadow  across  the  Illinois  country. 
Previous  to  that  date  a  few  red  slaves,  prisoners  of  either 
war  or  debt,  were  held  in  bondage  among  the  French  colo- 
nists, yet  the  number  was  small,  and  would  never  have 
proven  of  any  political  consequence.  It  remained  for  Re- 
nault, business  agent  for  the  "  Company  of  St.  Philippe  "  to 
bring  here  the  first  African  slaves,  and  thus  lay  the  found- 
ation for  a  bitter  struggle,  destined  to  last  for  more  than  one 
hundred  years.  Renault  left  France  in  1719  with  a  cargo 
of  mechanics,  miners,  and  laborers,  numbering  some  two 
hundred,  and  on  his  way  stopped  long  enough  at  San 
Domingo  to  purchase  five  hundred  black  slaves.  Accom- 
panied by  this  extensive  company,  he  voyaged  slowly  up  the 
Mississippi,  finally  arriving  in  Illinois,  where  he  established 
headquarters  at  the  village  of  St.  Philippe,  in  what  is  now  the 
southeast  corner  of  Monroe  County.  From  there  his  parties 
of  prospectors  scattered  widely,  in  a  vain  effort  to  locate 
precious  mineral.  In  1744,  completely  discouraged  by  lack 
of  success  in  his  mining  ventures,  he  returned  to  France, 
but  before  going  sold  his  remaining  slaves  to  the  surround- 
ing French  colonists. 

By  French  law,  under  date  of  April  23,  1615,  slavery  in 
the  American  colonies  had  been  duly  legalized,  and  later,  by 
the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Paris  in  1763,  the  French  inhab- 
itants of  Illinois  were  by  England  confirmed  in  their  right 
to  this  species  of  property.  When  the  United  States  came 
into  possession  of  all  this  territory  in  1784,  the  following 

318 


THE  BATTLE  AGAINST  SLAVERY  319 

stipulation  in  the  deed  of  cession  was  naturally  construed 
to  imply  the  continuation  of  such  enslavement,  and  practi- 
cally so  resulted:  "That  the  French  and  Canadian  inhabi- 
tants, and  other  settlers  of  the  Kaskaskias,  St.  Vincents, 
and  the  neighboring  villages,  who  have  professed  themselves 
citizens  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  shall  have  their  possessions 
and  titles  confirmed  to  them,  and  be  protected  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  their  rights  and  liberties."  Later,  when  this  question 
came  up  directly  before  Congress,  in  a  bill  providing  "  that 
after  the  year  1800  there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  invol- 
untary servitude  in  any  of  the  said  States,"  to  be  formed 
out  of  this  territory,  it  met  with  decisive  defeat.  At  this 
time  Indiana  Territory,  which  included  the  Illinois  country, 
contained  a  slave  population  of  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
three.  In  1 8 10,  Illinois  Territory  alone  had  one  hundred 
and  sixty-eight  slaves;  in  1820,  nine  hundred  and  seventeen, 
probably  including  indentured  and  registered  servants;  and 
by  1830  these  totalled  seven  hundred  and  forty-six. 

The  situation  of  Illinois,  as  well  as  the  character  and 
training  of  the  earlier  settlers,  were  alike  conducive  to  the 
extension  of  slavery,  at  least  throughout  the  more  southern 
counties.  Hence  through  all  the  earlier  days  it  flourished, 
but  was  finally  checked  by  a  strong  opposition  sentiment 
sweeping  down  from  the  North,  brought  by  incoming  set- 
tlers from  New  England.  It  seems  strange  now  that  this 
pro-slavery  sentiment  was  not  even  more  strong  and  abiding 
than  it  proved  to  be  in  time  of  final  test.  Geographically, 
Illinois  projects  far  southward,  and  during  all  the  earlier 
years  she  was  in  direct  commercial  contact  with  slave  States; 
her  first  and  more  influential  settlers  came  from  such  States, 
while  the  soil  was  adapted  to  the  production  of  crops  mak- 
ing profitable  slave  labor.  To  south  and  west  were  situated 
slave  Territories,  while  Southern  Indiana  was  strongly  pro- 
slavery,  both  in  sentiment  and  practice.  Yet,  from  the  first 
incoming  of  American  pioneers,  anti-slavery  advocates  were 


32o  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

very  much  in  evidence,  and  an  earnest  effort  was  made 
toward  anchoring  Illinois  among  the  free  States.  Both 
parties  took  the  matter  to  Congress,  besides  bringing  it  up 
in  various  forms  before  the  legislature;  but  for  a  number  of 
years  no  important  change  was  effected,  and  Illinois  practi- 
cally remained  pro-slavery.  Not  until  as  late  as  1845  was 
the  rightfulness  to  hold  slaves  in  Illinois  directly  passed 
upon  by  any  State  Supreme  Court.  The  first  decision  bear- 
ing upon  this  question  occurred  in  Indiana.  In  this  case 
the  mother  of  the  plaintiff  had  been  a  slave  in  Virginia, 
was  removed  to  Illinois  before  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  the 
sixth  article  of  which  prohibited  slavery  in  those  territories 
lying  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River,  held  in  bondage  there 
both  before  and  after  its  passage,  and  there  the  plaintiff  was 
born  after  that  date.  It  was  held  that  she  was  free.  The 
second  case  was  passed  upon  by  the  Missouri  Supreme 
Court,  it  being  the  case  of  Menard  vs.  Aspasia.  The  mother 
of  the  latter  was  born  in  Illinois  before  the  ordinance,  and 
held  as  a  slave  from  birth.  Aspasia,  born  after  the  ordin- 
ance at  Kaskaskia,  was  likewise  held  as  a  slave.  The 
Missouri  Court  held  that  she  was  entitled  to  freedom;  upon 
a  writ  of  error  the  question  reached  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court,  and  its  decision  was  similar  —  slaves  born 
since  the  Ordinance  of  1787  could  not  be  held  in  slavery 
in  Illinois.  In  1845  tms  question  came  squarely  before  the 
Illinois  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  Jarrot  vs.  Jarrot, 
when  it  was  decided  that  descendants  of  the  old  French 
slaves  born  since  1787  could  not  be  held  in  slavery.  Many 
other  similar  decisions  followed,  which  largely  cleared  the 
air,  and  aided  ultimate  freedom. 

In  the  years  between  these  dates  a  continuous  and  bitter 
warfare  had  raged  over  this  important  matter.  Partially  es- 
topped by  Congressional  enactment,  the  advocates  of  slavery 
in  Illinois  resorted  to  various  expedients  to  avoid  the  law, 
the  most  effective  of  which  found  expression  in  a  Terri- 


THE  BATTLE  AGAINST  SLAYERT  321 

torial  enactment  passed  in  September,  1807,  which  permitted 
slaveholders  to  have  duly  recorded  an  indenture  between 
themselves  and  their  slaves  for  a  term  of  years,  the  children 
of  said  indentured  slaves  likewise  to  serve,  the  males  until 
thirty,  the  females  until  twenty-eight  years  of  age.  Such 
servants  might  also  be  sold  by  an  assignment  of  the  indenture, 
thus  practically  making  their  condition  one  of  absolute 
bondage,  while  technically  avoiding  the  precise  language 
of  the  Congressional  ordinance.  It  is  impossible  here  to 
follow  in  any  specific  detail  the  various  subterfuges  adopted 
from  time  to  time  to  avoid  what  seemingly  was  the  plain 
law  of  the  land;  courts  were  invoked,  and  legislatures  con- 
vened for  the  sole  purpose  of  handling  this  one  absorbing 
question;  but  in  the  path  of  all  further  reform  stood  the 
absolute  veto  power  of  the  Governor,  and,  on  this  matter, 
Governor  Edwards,  who  was  himself  the  owner  of  a  number 
of  indentured  slaves,  never  failed  to  act  promptly.  Through 
these  methods  of  administration  the  indentured  slave  be- 
came a  recognized  institution  in  Illinois,  the  slaves  steadily 
decreasing  in  numbers,  it  is  true,  yet  the  institution  was 
never  wholly  abolished  until  the  adoption  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  1848. 

The  "  Black  Laws,"  as  adopted  by  the  legislature  in 
1819,  were  very  stringent,  not  to  say  barbarous.  No  negro 
or  mulatto  could  reside  in  the  State  until  he  produced  a 
certificate  of  freedom  under  court  seal,  which  must  be  entered 
of  record  in  the  county  where  he  settled.  If  he  changed 
residence,  the  certificate  had  to  be  refiled.  To  emancipate 
slaves,  an  owner  was  required  to  execute  a  bond  of  one 
thousand  dollars;  neglecting  to  do  this  rendered  him  liable 
to  a  fine  of  two  hundred  dollars.  To  harbor  any  slave,  or 
hinder  the  owner  in  retaking  his  runaway  slave,  was  declared 
a  felony;  every  black  without  proper  certificate  was  held 
as  a  runaway  subject  to  arrest,  and  could  be  publicly  sold 
at  the  end  of  a  year.  Any  slave,  or  servant,  found  ten  miles 


322  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

from  home  without  the  written  permit  of  his  master  was 
liable  to  arrest,  and  could  be  whipped  on  order  of  a  justice; 
or  if  he  appeared  at  any  dwelling,  without  leave  of  his  master, 
the  owner  of  the  place  thus  visited  was  authorized  to  admin- 
ister ten  lashes  on  his  bare  back.  For  being  lazy,  disorderly, 
or  misbehaving  generally,  he  could  be  corrected  with  stripes, 
and  for  every  day  he  refused  to  work  he  was  compelled  to 
serve  two.  In  all  cases  where  free  persons  were  punishable 
by  fines,  slaves  and  indentured  servants  were  to  be  chas- 
tised by  whipping,  at  the  rate  of  twenty  lashes  for  every 
eight  dollars  of  fine,  not  to  exceed  forty  stripes  at  any  one 
time.  Thus  was  the  free  State  of  Illinois  provided  with  a 
complete  slave  code. 

The  most  odious  feature  of  this  entire  slave  code,  how- 
ever, was  the  kidnapping  clause,  which,  unfortunately, 
had  been  so  worded  as  to  make  capture  and  punishment 
for  this  crime  almost  impossible.  The  inevitable  result  in 
so  new  a  country,  overrun  with  desperate  men,  many  of 
them  criminally  inclined,  was  to  make  such  kidnapping  of 
free  negroes  and  indentured  servants  a  regular  and  profit- 
able business.  They  were  seized  everywhere  by  force,  or 
inveigled  by  strategy  upon  river  boats,  and  taken  South  into 
the  cotton  States,  to  be  sold  to  the  highest  bidder.  No 
crime  can  be  greater  or  more  revolting  than  this,  yet  for 
many  years  southern  Illinois  afforded  a  safe  retreat  to  these 
kidnapping  outlaws,  who  became  more  and  more  numerous 
and  bold.  In  some  instances  they  were  organized  into 
regular  bands,  having  rendezvous  and  passwords,  leaders, 
and  methods  of  distributing  the  spoils  of  their  nefarious 
trade  in  human  suffering.  The  rough  hill  country  lying 
between  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  witnessed  in  those 
days  much  of  crime  and  sorrow  never  to  be  recorded.  Very 
few  case,  indeed,  ever  found  permanent  mention.  The 
earliest  conviction  for  this  crime  was  that  of  Jephtha  Lamb- 
kins, in  Madison  County,  November,  1822,  but  the  details 


THE  BATTLE  JGJINST  SLAVERY  323 

have  not  been  preserved.  On  the  night  of  May  25,  1823, 
a  free  colored  man  named  Jackson  Butler,  his  wife,  and  six 
children,  residing  in  Illinois,  a  few  miles  from  Vincennes, 
were  kidnapped  by  a  band  of  raiders  from  Lawrence  County, 
in  this  State.  Butler  had  belonged  to  Gorernor  Harrison 
in  Kentucky,  had  been  brought  to  Indiana,  had  been  in- 
dentured, and  had  faithfully  worked  out  his  term  of  service. 
His  wife  was  born  free,  which  rendered  the  children  also 
free.  They  were  taken  down  the  Wabash  to  the  Ohio,  and 
from  there  disappeared  farther  South.  Harrison,  learning 
of  the  outrage,  at  once  offered  a  large  reward  for  the  capture 
of  the  perpetrators.  His  name  gave  the  matter  wide  pub- 
licity, and  the  Butlers  were  rescued  at  New  Orleans,  just 
as  they  were  about  to  be  shipped  to  Cuba. 

This  was  merely  one  out  of  hundreds  of  similar  instances, 
although  few  had  so  satisfactory  an  ending.  The  entire 
southern  portion  of  the  State  was  overrun  by  professional 
kidnappers,  and  free  negroes  were  kept  in  constant  terror. 
The  Shawneetown  "  Mercury,"  as  late  as  1851,  contains  an 
account  of  a  peculiar  case  illustrative  of  the  class  of  men  en- 
engaged  at  this  work.  A  Mrs.  Prather,  of  Tennessee,  eman- 
cipated her  slaves,  and  the  latter  removed  to  Gallatin  County, 
Illinois.  They  were  followed  by  a  party  of  kidnappers,  who 
conspired  for  their  arrest  as  fugitive  slaves.  Judge  Pope,  of 
the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  before  whom  the  case  came, 
decided  that  the  Tennesseeans  had  not  a  shadow  of  a  claim 
to  them.  While  endeavoring  to  get  hold  of  these  negroes,  a 
well-known  Kentucky  kidnapper,  named  Newton  E.  Wright, 
came  to  this  State,  and  became  acquainted  with  two  Illi- 
noisans  in  the  same  trade, --Joe  O'Neal,  of  Hamilton 
County,  and  Abe  Thomas.  A  little  later,  O'Neal  stole 
three  children  from  a  negro  named  Scott,  living  in  that 
county,  ran  them  off,  and  sold  them,  partly  on  credit,  to 
Wright,  who  immediately  resold  them  to  one  Phillips  at 
New  Madrid.  When  O'Neal's  note  matured  he  sent  Abe 


324  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Thomas  to  collect,  telling  him  that  Wright  had  some  other 
business  for  him  to  attend  to,  for  which  he  would  be  well 
paid.  Arriving  at  Wright's,  the  desperado  was  offered 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  to  go  to  Hicco,  Tennessee, 
and  kill  a  Dr.  Swayne,  who  had  sued  Wright  on  a  note. 
This  job  was  undertaken,  and  Thomas  went  to  Hicco, 
gained  Swayne's  confidence,  and  endeavored  to  carry  out 
his  contract,  but  merely  succeeded  in  fracturing  the  Doctor's 
arm  by  a  hasty  shot  fired  from  behind.  Thomas  escaped, 
although  closely  pursued.  A  year  later,  an  unexpected  clew 
to  the  discovery  of  the  felon  was  obtained.  Two  residents 
of  White  County,  Illinois,  chanced  to  meet  Dr.  Swayne,  and 
heard  him  describe  the  man  who  shot  him  as  having  a  nose 
flat  at  the  base,  projecting  forward  like  a  hawk's  bill.  These 
Illinoisans  at  once  recognized  Abe  Thomas,  and  a  short 
time  afterwards  the  fellow  was  seized  by  a  party  of  Tennes- 
seeans,  taken  to  that  State,  tried,  and  convicted. 

In  1824  a  desperate  effort  was  made  to  change  Illinois 
into  an  openly  slave  State.  There  can  be  little  question 
that  from  1818  until  this  date,  whenever  the  voice  of  the 
people  found  expression,  they  were  strongly  in  favor  of 
slavery.  The  subject  was  constantly  kept  astir,  not  only  by 
local  agitators,  but  by  the  continuous  stream  of  Southern 
emigrants  passing  through  on  their  way  to  Missouri.  Many 
who  had  lands  and  property  to  sell  looked  upon  the  good 
fortune  of  Missouri  with  envy,  while  the  lordly  immigrant, 
as  he  passed  along  with  his  money  and  droves  of  negroes, 
took  a  malicious  pleasure  in  increasing  it,  by  pretending  to 
regret  the  short-sighted  policy  of  Illinois,  which  prevented 
him  from  settling  there  with  his  slaves,  and  purchasing  the 
land  travelled  over.  This  growing  dissatisfaction  culmi- 
nated in  the  fierce  election  contest  of  1822,  when  slavery 
was  practically  the  one  great  issue  upon  which  votes  were 
cast.  Edward  Coles  was  elected  Governor  by  a  small 
majority.  He  was  openly  opposed  to  slavery,  and  thus, 


THE  BATTLE  AGAINST  SLAVERY  325 

apparently,  the  anti-slavery  party  won;  but  this  was  accom- 
plished merely  because  there  chanced  to  be  two  pro-slavery 
candidates  in  the  field, —  Phillips  and  Brown, —  and  the 
total  pro-slavery  vote  polled  was  nearly  two  thousand  in 
excess  of  that  given  Coles.  Moreover,  the  legislature  elected 
was  strongly  pro-slavery,  and  counteracted  the  best  efforts 
of  the  executive. 

The  two  radically  opposed  parties  locked  horns  almost 
immediately,  Governor  Coles  directing  attention  to  this  im- 
portant question  in  his  first  communication  to  the  assembled 
Legislature,  and  in  clear,  forcible  language  urging  immediate 
emancipation.  This  served  merely  to  fan  into  flame  all 
opposition,  and  the  pro-slavery  advocates,  confident  in  their 
apparent  strength,  determined  then  and  there  to  fasten 
slavery  permanently  upon  the  State.  There  was  but  one 
legal  way  in  which  this  could  be  accomplished  —  by  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution.  To  attain  this  required 
first  a  two-thirds  vote  in  each  house  passing  the  proposition 
submitting  the  question  to  a  final  vote  of  the  people.  In 
the  Senate,  this  necessary  two-thirds  was  easily  found,  but 
in  the  House  just  one  vote  proved  to  be  lacking.  To  remedy 
this,  an  anti-slavery  member,  Nicholas  Hanson,  of  Pike 
County,  was  unseated,  and  a  contestant  for  his  position, 
in  the  person  of  John  B.  Shaw,  promptly  given  his  place. 
His  vote,  thus  easily  secured,  carried  the  day;  but  the  un- 
scrupulous manner  in  which  it  had  been  acquired  later 
proved  a  boomerang,  and  contributed  largely  to  influence 
the  people  in  their  decision  at  the  polls.  There  followed  a 
most  desperately  bitter  campaign  for  votes,  lasting  nearly 
eighteen  months,  conducted  violently  by  both  parties  through- 
out the  entire  inhabited  portion  of  the  State.  In  some  re- 
spects the  pro-slavery  element  had,  at  the  start  at  least,  a 
decided  advantage  because  of  the  unequal  apportionment 
of  the  State  into  representative  and  senatorial  districts, 
pro-slavery  sentiment  being  peculiarly  strong  in  the  old 


326  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

French  settlements  and  along  the  Ohio,  while  farther  north 
the  people  were  numerically  far  in  advance  of  the  ratio  of 
representation  accorded  them.  The  anti-slavery  leaders 
perceived  clearly  that  if  they  were  to  win  at  all  it  must  be 
through  the  direct  vote  of  the  people,  for  if  the  question 
should  be  ever  left  with  a  chosen  convention  of  delegates 
as  the  districts  were  then  apportioned,  slavery  would  un- 
questionably be  fastened  upon  the  State.  Nerved  by  this 
knowledge,  they  devoted  every  effort  to  defeat  the  conven- 
tion call  before  the  people. 

Never  was  such  a  canvass  before  made  in  the  State. 
Young  and  old,  without  regard  to  sex,  entered  madly 
into  the  party  strife;  families  and  neighborhoods  became 
divided,  and  entered  into  bitter,  and  at  times  violent, 
controversy.  Detraction,  personal  abuse,  acrimonious  re- 
torts were  heard  everywhere,  and  hand-to-hand  combats 
were  frequent.  The  entire  country  was  on  the  verge 
of  a  resort  to  physical  force  to  settle  the  angry  question, 
and  both  threats  and  open  intimidation  were  freely  indulged. 
Newspapers  were  established  by  both  parties  to  the  contro- 
versy, and  their  columns  teemed  with  incendiary  utterances. 
Pamphlets  were  published  and  scattered  broadcast;  Gov- 
ernor Coles  gave  his  entire  salary  to  the  cause;  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Peck,  anti-slavery  societies  were 
organized  throughout  the  State,  the  headquarters  being  in 
St.  Clair  County.  The  ministers  of  the  gospel  took  active 
part  in  the  canvass,  for  the  moment  forgetting  their  theo- 
logical differences  to  unite  against  this  one  great  sin.  Tracts 
and  handbills  fluttered  everywhere,  and  almost  every  stump 
held  an  impassioned  orator,  while  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
people  wrangled  and  argued  wherever  they  met.  All  com- 
merce ceased,  all  work  waited,  while  this  great  question  was 
being  fought  out  to  a  finish. 

A  glance  over  the  array  of  names  prominent  in  this  cam- 
paign makes  it  evident  that  the  more  talented,  influential, 


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THE  BATTLE  AGAINST  SLAVERY  327 

and  better-known  men  then  in  Illinois  public  life  were 
enlisted  on  the  side  of  the  convention  party,  but  in  energy 
and  zeal,  enthusiasm  and  determination,  the  opposition 
proved  the  stronger.  Moreover,  they  were  better  organized, 
and  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  press  home  on 
the  individual  conscience  a  great  moral  issue,  to  which 
the  minds  of  the  common  people  made  response.  Their 
attacks  were  based  directly  upon  the  merits  of  slavery; 
they  dodged  nothing,  while  their  opponents  endeavored  to 
avoid  the  issue,  and  befog  it.  The  open,  straightforward, 
manly  methods  of  the  anti-slavery  advocates  inspired  respect 
everywhere  and  won  votes,  while,  in  spite  of  aid  extended 
to  the  pro-slavery  forces  from  sympathizers  without  the 
State,  the  very  length  of  the  campaign  was  favorable  to  the 
steady  growth  of  anti-slavery  sentiment  among  the  common 
people.  On  the  day  of  election  every  possible  effort  was 
made  to  poll  a  complete  vote.  The  aged,  the  crippled,  the 
sick,  all  who  could  possibly  be  induced  or  even  dragged 
from  their  homes,  were  brought  to  the  polls.  The  result 
was  that  the  convention  scheme  was  emphatically  defeated 
by  some  eighteen  hundred  majority.  It  was  a  notable  vic- 
tory for  the  cause  of  freedom,  showing  a  distinct  gain,  ex- 
ceeding thirty-five  hundred  votes  over  the  gubernatorial 
contest  of  only  two  years  previous.  The  total  vote  cast  was 
1 1, 6 1 2,  while  at  the  Presidential  election  the  November  fol- 
lowing, the  total  vote  cast  was  but  4,707.  Strange  as  it  may 
seem,  the  angry  feelings  engendered  by  this  prolonged  and 
bitter  contest  for  supremacy  died  rapidly  away,  and  six 
months  later,  it  is  said,  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  find  a 
politician  in  the  State  who  would  openly  favor  the  intro- 
duction of  slavery.  The  people's  will  was  supreme.  The 
victory  thus  won  decided  forever  the  position  of  Illinois 
on  this  momentous  question. 

But  the  liberty  of  men  is  more  than  a  political  question, 
and  can  never  be  settled  until  it  is  settled  right.     Illinois,  by 


328  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

this  decisive  act  of  her  voters,  was  indeed  safely  removed 
from  the  list  of  avowed  slave  States,  but  the  curse  of  vir- 
tual slavery  yet  continued  to  cast  its  baleful  shadow  through- 
out the  settlements.  To  the  south  lay  Kentucky,  a  slave 
State;  to  the  west,  Missouri,  a  slave  State,  while  nearly  half 
of  her  own  population  were  from  birth  and  habit  firm  be- 
lievers in  the  "  peculiar  institution."  Kidnapping  of  free 
Illinois  negroes  became  a  recognized  trade,  in  which  many 
prospered.  Regular  routes  were  established  leading  south- 
ward, with  convenient  stations  established  along  the  way, 
by  which  men,  women,  and  children  were  hurried  into 
slavery.  There  are  times  when  fire  can  best  be  fought  with 
fire,  and  as  arriving  settlers  from  the  New  England  States, 
men  nurtured  in  the  religion  of  abolitionism,  began  to  flow 
into  the  more  northern  counties,  they  planned  a  somewhat 
similar  scheme  for  the  running  away  with  colored  folks,  but 
for  a  nobler  purpose.  The  Southern  kidnappers  stole  the 
free,  to  sell  them  into  hopeless  slavery;  the  Northern  aboli- 
tionists took  the  slave  from  his  master  and  guided  him  into 
liberty.  It  was  a  dangerous  service  in  those  days,  when  the 
feeling  between  the  factions  was  extremely  bitter,  and  one 
could  hardly  be  certain  of  the  true  sentiments  of  a  neighbor. 
Yet  little  by  little  a  trustworthy  chain  was  formed  the  entire 
length  of  the  great  State ;  then  another  and  another,  until 
soon  after  1835,  and  from  then  until  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Civil  War,  an  almost  constant  stream  of  black  fugitives  was 
passing  along  from  station  to  station  of  the  famous  "  Under- 
ground Railway  "  to  ultimate  safety  in  far-off  Canada.  We 
know  little  regarding  those  old  secret  routes  now  ;  they  have 
left  only  dim  traces,  although  a  few  hoary-headed  men  yet 
linger,  who  can  tell  thrilling  stories  of  that  little  section  on 
which  they  once  faithfully  served.  It^may  be  none  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  entire  distance  traversed  ;  certain  it  is  that 
all  that  any  station-keeper  needed  to  know  was  the  location 
of  the  next  station  lying  east  or  north  of  his  own.  The 


FROM     A     RARE    SILHOUETTE    1'ORTRAIT 


THE  BATTLE  AGAINST  SLAVERY  329 

fugitives  came  to  him  in  the  dark  hours  before  dawn  ;  all  that 
day  they  lay  hidden  securely  from  prying  eyes,  and  when 
night  again  darkened  he  led  them  swiftly  onward  to  another 
similar  place  of  safety.  No  record  was  ever  kept  of  the 
number  that  passed,  but  many  a  hundred,  including  men, 
women,  and  children,  thus  won  their  weary  way  to  free- 
dom across  the  night-enshrouded  prairies  of  Illinois.  One 
old  settler  in  Knox  County,  pointing  the  present  writer  to 
the  great  attic  in  his  quaintly  fashioned  house,  said  that  often 
he  had  hidden  there  more  than  twenty  fugitives.  Some- 
times it  was  but  one,  trudging  painfully  along  on  foot,  to  be 
followed  a  few  nights  later  by  a  trembling  band  loaded  upon 
lumbering  wagons. 

We  know  little  of  the  details  ;  it  is  doubtful  if  anyone  now 
living  could  accurately  trace  the  old  routes  along  which  these 
fleeing  blacks  travelled  in  the  dark.  There  were  three  of 
these  secret  trails  leading  out  from  Missouri,  across  Illinois 
-  one  starting  at  St.  Louis,  and  veering  north  until  it  in- 
tersected another  having  its  western  terminus  at  Alton,  from 
which  point  it  tended  north  of  east,  probably  never  far 
away  from  the  present  line  of  the  Big  Four  Railway.  A 
third  route  led  directly  northeast  from  Quincy,  passing 
through  Knox,  Henry,  Bureau,  and  La  Salle  Counties  on  its 
way  toward  Lake  Michigan.  Galesburg  in  Knox,  then 
Wethersfield  in  Henry  County,  were  stations  on  this  line,  the 
next  beyond  being  Princeton  in  Bureau,  thirty-six  miles 
distant. 

Out  of  such  conflicting  interests  as  slavery  engendered, 
from  the  suspicion  rampant  on  all  sides,  and  the  intense 
bitterness  of  party  strife,  the  mob  spirit  was  naturally  born. 
Violence  was  not  uncommon  during  all  of  these  formative 
years,  and  occasionally  the  smouldering  fire  burst  forth  into 
dangerous  flame.  Neighborhoods,  churches,  even  families, 
were  divided;  the  very  word  "Abolitionist"  was  hated  by 
many  lovers  of  liberty;  yet  so  subtly  did  the  spirit  of  aboli- 


330  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

tionism  creep  in  that  no  man  felt  certain  of  his  nearest  neigh- 
bor. Suspicion  rilled  the  air,  and  stimulated  men  to  acts 
which  under  saner  conditions  would  have  been  impossible. 
Such,  we  may  safely  say,  led  to  the  Alton  riots  and  the 
death  of  Elijah  P.  Love  joy.  This  occurred  in  the  Fall  of 
1837,  soon  after  the  formation  in  upper  Alton,  at  the  house 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hurlbut,  of  the  first  openly  avowed  Aboli- 
tion Society  in  the  State.  Mr.  Lovejoy,  who  may  justly  be 
named  Illinois's  first  martyr  to  liberty,  came  to  Alton  from 
St.  Louis,  July  21,  1836.  He  was  then  thirty-four  years  of 
age,  and  had  been  for  three  years  editor  of  a  paper  in  the 
latter  city,  in  the  columns  of  which  he  had  so  fearlessly  ex- 
pressed anti-slavery  views,  as  to  make  it  necessary  for  him 
to  flee  from  the  place  by  night.  Determined  to  be  heard,  he 
shipped  his  press  to  Alton,  where  he  proposed  reestablishing 
himself.  It  chanced  to  be  Sunday,  and  consequently  his 
goods  were  left  lying  unguarded  on  the  wharf,  no  one  sup- 
posing any  trouble  would  occur.  That  night  the  boxes  were 
broken  open,  and  the  printing-press  was  thrown  into  the 
river. 

This  act  aroused  great  indignation  in  Alton,  and  a  meet- 
ing of  protest  was  held  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  at  which 
Mr.  Lovejoy  and  others  spoke.  In  this  address  the  declara- 
tion was  clearly  made  that  he  was  not  an  Abolitionist,  but 
looked  to  colonization  as  the  best  means  of  ridding  the 
country  of  the  curse  of  slavery.  He  stated  his  desire  to  es- 
tablish a  religious  paper  in  Alton,  and  used  language  which 
his  listeners  interpreted  to  be  a  personal  pledge  that  its 
columns  should  be  kept  free  from  all  future  discussion  of  the 
slavery  question.  As  a  direct  result  of  this  meeting,  funds 
were  raised,  another  press  was  sent  for,  and  on  September  8, 
1836,  the  first  number  of  the  Alton  "  Observer  "  was  issued. 
It  was  a  success  from  the  start,  and  soon  gained  a  wide  cir- 
culation, but  it  was  not  long  before  its  editor  again  boldly 
attacked  slavery.  It  could  hardly  be  otherwise  in  that  day 


LOVEJOY  MONUMENT.  ALTON 


THE  BATTLE  AGAINST  SLAVERY  331 

when  no  true  man  could  long  remain  neutral  or  indifferent. 
In  the  issue  of  June  29,  1837,  he  favored  a  petition  for  the 
abolishing  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in  the 
next  advocated  the  organizing  of  an  anti-slavery  society  in 
Illinois.  A  committee  communicated  with  the  editor,  warn- 
ing him  to  desist,  to  which  he  replied  somewhat  tartly,  deny- 
ing the  right  of  anyone  to  dictate  to  him  what  he  should 
discuss,  and  offering  them  the  use  of  his  columns  to  answer 
his  arguments. 

They  chose,  however,  a  different  method,  and  on  the  night 
of  August  25  a  mob  suddenly  stormed  down  upon  the  office, 
wrecked  it  with  bricks  and  stones,  drove  out  the  employees, 
and  completely  demolished  the  press.  The  anti-slavery 
party  at  once  rallied  about  their  champion,  and  a  third  press 
was  sent  for;  but  when  it  arrived  in  September,  Mr.  Love- 
joy  chanced  to  be  away,  and  it  was  immediately  seized  by 
another  mob,  and  promptly  thrown  into  the  river.  Again 
and  again  during  these  weeks  of  continued  excitement  the 
life  of  the  editor  was  threatened,  and  twice  he  was  the  victim 
of  vicious  assaults.  But  his  friends  sent  for  a  fourth  press, 
and  he  remained  undaunted  at  his  post. 

November  7,  1837,  the  boat  arrived  bearing  the  fourth 
press,  which  was  at  once  removed  to  the  stone  warehouse  of 
Godfrey,  Gilman  &  Co.  Mr.  Lovejoy  and  a  number  of 
friends  assembled  with  arms  for  its  defence.  No  trouble 
occurred  until  night,  when  a  mob  of  perhaps  thirty  persons, 
mostly  intoxicated,  demanded  that  the  press  be  surrendered 
to  them.  Refused  this,  they  at  once  commenced  a  fierce 
attack  on  the  building  with  stones,  brickbats,  and  guns. 
Those  within  fired,  killing  one  of  the  mob  and  wounding 
several  others.  Soon  after,  the  city  bells  were  rung,  horns 
were  blown,  and  a  maddened  multitude  surged  down  toward 
the  besieged  warehouse.  Ladders  were  placed  against  the 
windowless  sides,  and  a  number  ascended  to  set  fire  to  the 
roof.  Mr.  Lovejoy,  with  a  few  others  of  the  defenders,  fired 


332  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

upon  these,  and  drove  them  away,  returning  below  to  reload 
their  guns.  Shortly  after,  he  again  stepped  out  on  the  roof 
to  reconnoitre.  But  this  time  concealed  members  of  the  mob 
were  watching  ;  a  number  fired,  and  five  bullets  entered  his 
body.  He  fell,  crying,  "  My  God,  I  am  shot! "  and  instantly 
expired.  With  his  death,  the  others  surrendered,  and  the 
mob  broke  the  press  into  fragments,  and  flung  them  into 
the  river. 

The  day  following,  a  grave  was  dug  on  j  high  bluff,  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  city,  and  the  body,  without  any  religious 
ceremony,  was  thrown  into  it  and  hastily  covered  up.  Some 
years  later  this  spot  was  chosen  as  the  site  of  a  cemetery,  and 
the  main  avenue  chanced  to  pass  over  the  neglected  grave  of 
Lovejoy.  To  obviate  the  difficulty,  his  remains  were  re- 
moved to  a  new  locality,  and,  later  still,  a  simple  monument 
erected  over  them,  bearing  the  inscription :  "  Hie  jacet 
Lovejoy;  jam  parce  sepulto"  Punishment  for  his  murder 
seemed  to  follow  without  human  intervention:  the  leader 
of  the  mob  became  a  prisoner  in  the  Ohio  penitentiary,  the 
person  most  instrumental  in  the  committing  of  the  crime  was 
killed  in  a  brawl  at  New  Orleans,  while  many  others  are  re- 
ported to  have  ended  their  lives  in  violence  and  disgrace. 

But  great  questions,  like  the  issue  of  slavery,  are  not  to  be 
settled  by  mob  action.  The  death  of  Lovejoy  merely  fanned 
the  flame,  and  made  agitation  more  aggressive.  Illinois  be- 
came a  battle-ground,  nor  did  the  gigantic  struggle  cease 
until  the  surrender  of  the  Confederacy  at  Appomattox.  To 
the  last,  pro-slavery  sentiment  remained  strongly  entrenched 
throughout  all  the  southern  counties,  and  from  them  many  a 
volunteer  went  forth  to  don  the  gray  and  battle  for  his  faith. 
But  Illinois  stood  firm  for  freedom,  and  during  that  awful 
struggle,  which  broke  the  last  chains  from  off  the  limbs  of 
black  slaves,  she  gave  of  her  best  manhood  29,588  lives  in 
sacrifice.  In  that  hour  of  supreme  trial  she  saw  her  duty, 
and  performed  it. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE   CODE   DUELLO 

UNDOUBTEDLY,  personal  encounters  between  Indians 
were  never  uncommon  in  the  days  beyond  the  reach 
of  historical  research,  and  many  a  desperate  combat  was 
waged  in  the  Illinois  country  over  some  dusky  maiden,  or 
some  grievous  injury.  But  the  code  duello,  as  known  to  us, 
was  introduced  with  the  coming  of  the  Frenchman.  They 
were  fighting  men,  those  who  built  and  garrisoned  Forts  St. 
Louis,  Chartres,  and  Massac,  and  it  is  scarcely  probable 
that  all  those  years  of  frontier  isolation  passed  without  many 
a  controversy  and  bitter  word.  Yet,  few  details  have  come 
down  to  us.  Rumor  speaks  of  a  fierce  struggle  fought  with 
knives  beside  the  boat-landing  at  Massac,  but  no  one  can  tell 
now  the  name  of  either  participant.  In  1765,  when  the 
troops  of  Britain  came  into  possession  of  Fort  Chartres,  a 
quarrel  is  said  to  have  ensued  between  two  young  officers, 
one  French,  the  other  English.  At  the  bottom  of  it  was  a 
bright-eyed  lass  of  Kaskaskia,  and  for  her  favor  these  two 
fought  with  small  swords  one  Sunday  morning,  close  beside 
the  fort.  The  Englishman  was  killed,  and  his  opponent 
escaped  down  the  river,  but  neither  name  has  been  pre- 
served. 

The  earlier  American  settlers,  coming  in  from  the  more 
southern  States,  brought  with  them  the  duel  as  the  most  fit 
mode  for  settlement  of  personal  difficulties.  The  lack  of  law 
in  this  new  region  would  also,  very  naturally,  inspire  each 
man  to  right  his  own  grievances  by  force  of  arms,  in  a  time 
when  every  settler  bore  knife  at  belt  and  gun  at  shoulder. 
There  is  no  record  of  long-standing  feuds  between  families, 

333 


334  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

such  as  have  been  a  curse  to  the  mountain  regions  of 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee;  but,  amid  the  rocks  of  the  low 
mountain  range  of  the  Ozarks,  dark  deeds  were  done,  and 
ambuscading  parties  were  not  entirely  unknown  even  up  to  the 
time  of  the  Civil  War.  So  far  as  the  code  proper  was  con- 
cerned, while  meetings  were  frequent,  they  proved,  generally, 
more  farcical  than  serious,  and  became  a  source  of  con- 
tinual ridicule  throughout  the  State,  until  a  fatal  encounter 
resulted  in  a  stringent  law  aimed  at  putting  an  end  to  the 
practice.  That  fierce  and  implacable  passion,  upon  which 
the  continuation  of  duelling  must  rest,  never  found  congenial 
surroundings  on  Illinois  soil,  and  the  custom  died  rather  of 
laughter  than  of  law. 

The  first  meeting  of  which  we  have  historic  mention 
occurred  in  1809,  on  an  island  midway  between  Kaskaskia 
and  St.  Genevieve.  It  was  itself  a  bloodless  affair,  but  be- 
came notable  because  of  the  angry  quarrel  growing  out  of  it, 
which  later  developed  into  the  dastardly  assassination  of  one 
of  the  principals.  This  duel  was  between  Rice  Jones,  a 
young  lawyer  of  great  promise,  and  Shadrach  Bond,  after- 
wards the  first  Governor  of  the  State.  The  controversy  be- 
tween the  two  young  men  originated  over  political  differences, 
and  waxed  so  warm  and  personal  that  a  challenge  was  sent 
and  accepted.  The  weapons  were  hair-trigger  pistols,  and 
as  the  men  were  taking  their  positions  on  the  field,  the  one 
in  Jones's  hand  was  accidentally  discharged.  A  quarrel 
thereupon  ensued  between  the  seconds,  Bond's  representa- 
tive claiming  that  Jones  having  had  one  shot,  it  was  now  the 
turn  of  his  principal  to  fire.  Bond,  however,  refused  to  do 
so,  and  his  manly  insistence  on  fair  play  so  touched  Jones 
that  the  two  men  immediately  became  reconciled  and  quitted 
the  field.  But  this  left  a  bitter  feeling  existing  between 
Jones  and  Bond's  second,  who  was  named  Dunlap.  Hatred 
grew,  until  one  day,  when  the  former  was  standing  on  the 
street  in  Kaskaskia  conversing  with  a  lady,  Dunlap  crept  up 


THE  CODE  DUELLO  335 

behind,  and  like  a  coward  shot  him  down.  The  murderer 
escaped  to  Texas,  and  was  never  captured,  but  in  1810  a  law 
was  adopted  by  the  Governor  and  judges  making  a  fatal 
result  in  a  duel  murder,  and  all  taking  part  in  it  principals 
to  the  crime. 

Reynolds,  in  his  "  History  of  Early  Illinois,"  makes  men- 
tion of  another  combat  between  Illinoisans,  which  occurred 
during  the  war  period  of  1812.  His  words  are:  "Thomas 
Rector,  one  of  the  younger  brothers  (of  the  famous  pioneer 
Rector  family),  had  a  duel  with  Joshua  Barton,  on  Bloody 
Island,  opposite  St.  Louis,  and  was  as  cool  in  that  combat 
as  if  he  were  shooting  at  a  deer  on  the  prairie.  These  young 
men  espoused  the  quarrel  of  their  elder  brothers,  and  Barton 
fell  in  the  conflict."  The  easy  manner  in  which  this  meet- 
ing is  thus  referred  to,  with  its  fatal  consequences,  leaves  the 
impression  that  such  combats  were  not  then  uncommon  in 
spite  of  the  existing  law.  Bloody  Island,  which  was  within 
Illinois  jurdisdiction,  was  for  long  a  convenient  and  safe 
battle-ground,  often  resorted  to,  but  the  majority  frequent- 
ing it  were  from  the  Missouri  side  of  the  river,  especially  St. 
Louis.  It  was  this  custom  that  bestowed  on  the  island  its 
name  of  horror. 

The  last  fatal  duel  occurring  within  the  State  limits  was 
fought  at  Belleville,  in  February,  1819,  between  Alonzo  C. 
Stuart  and  William  Bennett.  It  arose  from  a  drunken 
quarrel,  the  participants  being  urged  on  by  their  com- 
panions, who  desired  some  wild  sport,  and  to  make  a  butt  of 
Bennett.  A  sham  duel  was  planned,  Stuart  being  informed 
but  Bennett  kept  in  the  dark.  Nathan  Fike  and  Jacob 
Short  officiated  as  seconds,  the  weapons  selected  being  rifles, 
but  these  were  loaded  merely  with  powder.  In  the  words 
of  Davidson  and  Stuve,  whose  descriptions  largely  form  the 
basis  of  this  chapter,  "The  combatants  took  position  at 
forty  paces,  and  at  the  signal  Bennett  fired  with  good  aim, 
while,  to  the  horror  of  all  present,  Stuart  fell,  shot  in  the 


336  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

breast,  and  mortally  wounded.  The  latter,  to  heighten  the 
merriment,  had  not  discharged  his  piece  at  all,  but  Bennett, 
either  suspecting  some  trick,  or  inspired  by  malice,  had 
secretly  slipped  a  ball  into  his  rifle."  The  two  seconds, 
together  with  Bennett,  were  arrested  and  indicted  for  mur- 
der. Separate  trials  being  granted,  Fike  and  Short  were 
acquitted;  but  the  evidence  was  so  strong  against  Bennett 
that  he  broke  jail  and  made  his  escape  into  Arkansas.  Two 
years  later,  by  means  of  a  rather  dishonorable  trick,  he  was 
inveigled  back  into  Illinois,  again  arrested,  tried  at  a  special 
term  of  court  in  Belleville,  convicted  of  murder,  sentenced, 
and  executed. 

In  1829,  Galena  gave  to  the  State  the  most  unique  duel 
ever  fought  within  its  limits.  Galena  at  that  time  was  a 
town  containing  a  motley  collection  of  men,  represent- 
ing almost  every  nationality  of  the  civilized  world,  together 
with  a  considerable  sprinkling  of  Indians  and  negroes.  On 
Sunday,  when  the  lead-miners  were  idle,  the  place  was  ex- 
ceedingly lively,  with  preaching  of  the  gospel,  dancing,  all 
manner  of  open  gambling,  and  horse-racing  under  the  hill. 
The  miners  were  just  the  kind  to  invent  a  new  form  of 
duello.  This  was  no  less  than  a  fight  between  two  stone- 
throwers, — a  desperate  struggle,  apt  to  inflict  even  greater 
injury  than  the  exchange  of  bullets.  The  name  of  only 
one  of  the  participants  has  been  preserved,  he  being  that 
famous  ranger,  Thomas  Higgins,  whose  Indian  battle  in 
1812  has  already  been  described.  A  quarrel  between  him 
and  some  unknown  borderman  resulted  in  this  cruel  and 
unusual  wager  of  battle.  A  pile  of  stones,  carefully  assorted 
as  to  number  and  size,  was  placed  within  easy  reach  of  each 
combatant,  and  they  took  their  positions,  ten  paces  apart. 
It  was  a  fierce  struggle  for  a  moment  or  two,  but  proved  of 
short  duration,  for  Higgins's  adversary  soon  turned  and 
fled  for  his  life. 

All  other  hostile  meetings  within  the  State  were  of  polit- 


THE  CODE  DUELLO  337 

ical  origin,  and  generally  resulted  in  some  ludicrous  ending, 
which  constantly  tended  to  bring  the  habit  of  a  resort  to 
arms  into  greater  and  deserved  contempt.  Doubtless,  such 
farces  exercised  as  marked  an  influence  toward  the  complete 
suppression  of  duelling  as  did  the  law.  The  legislative 
session  of  1840-41  was  filled  with  bellicose  bluster,  and  fruit- 
ful of  numerous  "  affairs  of  honor,"  even  yet  apt  to  awaken 
a  smile  as  we  read  of  them.  So  intense  was  the  fighting 
spirit,  that  one  honorable  member,  Mr.  Hacker,  solemnly 
moved  the  suspension  of  the  duelling  law  for  two  weeks,  to 
accommodate  all  the  doughty  and  chivalrous  gentlemen  who 
desired  to  settle  their  personal  difficulties  on  the  field.  The 
special  occasion  of  this  was  a  quarrel  between  two  senators, 
-  E.  D.  Baker  and  Judge  Pearson, —  in  which  the  former 
challenged  the  latter  to  a  "  fist-fight  "  in  the  public  street  ; 
this  pleasantry  the  Judge  indignantly  declined,  but  expressed 
a  willingness  to  meet  with  weapons.  Numerous  challenges 
were  exchanged  at  this  time,  but,  so  far  as  known,  no  actual 
hostile  shots  were  fired.  Sometimes  friends  interfered,  and 
occasionally  courts  were  invoked  as  a  last  resort  to  keep  the 
peace,  while  many  a  good  story  was  circulated  regarding 
the  unconscious  belligerents,  and  their  warlike  propensities 
were  turned  into  themes  for  jest  and  laughter. 

In  1842,  Abraham  Lincoln  became  involved  in  one  of 
these  affairs  of  honor,  which  is  perhaps  fairly  illustrative 
of  a  great  many  others.  The  origin  of  this  difficulty  was 
political.  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  an  article  published  in  the 
"Sangamo  Journal"  of  September  2,  1842,  made  a  bitter 
attack  on  some  actions  of  the  State  officials,  relative  to  the 
collection  of  taxes.  The  article  was  decidedly  rough  in  lan- 
guage, and  written  in  a  jesting  style,  apt  to  cut  deep.  Special 
reference  was  made  to  State  Auditor  Shields,  and  he  was  held 
up  to  ridicule  personally,  as  well  as  officially.  Mr.  Shields, 
being  of  Irish  blood,  was  very  easily  aroused.  Seeking  the 
editor  of  the  paper,  he  demanded  the  name  of  the  anonymous 


338  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

writer  of  the  objectionable  article,  and  it  was  given  him. 
Notes  were  interchanged,  Shields's  note  bristling  with  the 
desire  to  fight,  Lincoln's  somewhat  defiant  in  tone,  but  non- 
committal as  to  action.  Finally,  Shields  despatched  a  formal 
challenge,  naming  General  Whiteside  as  his  personal  friend, 
to  which  Lincoln  immediately  replied,  with  Dr.  Merriman 
as  his  representative.  The  two  friends  met,  and  secretly 
pledged  themselves  to  agree  upon  some  terms  by  which  a 
hostile  meeting  should  be  avoided.  To  procrastinate  as 
much  as  possible,  all  parties  concerned  were  persuaded  to  go 
to  Springfield,  and  then,  to  prevent  arrest  (for  rumors  of  the 
coming  duel  were  already  afloat  in  the  air),  Mr.  Lincoln 
departed  hurriedly  for  Jacksonville,  leaving  written  in- 
structions behind  for  the  guidance  of  his  second. 

In  this  memorandum  he  explained  at  some  length  his 
connection  with  the  article  in  the  "  Journal,"  but  disclaimed 
any  intention  of  reflecting  personally  upon  Shields,  stating 
that  his  object  was  entirely  political,  and  that  he  possessed 
no  personal  pique,  and  knew  of  no  cause  for  any.  If  this 
was  not  satisfactory,  and  a  meeting  could  not  be  avoided, 
the  arrangements  for  the  fight  were  to  be: 

"  First,  Weapons  —  Cavalry  broadswords  of  the  largest  size, 
precisely  equal  in  all  respects,  and  such  as  are  now  used  by  the 
cavalry  company  at  Jacksonville. 

"Second,  Position — A  plank  ten  feet  long,  and  from  nine  to 
twelve  inches  broad,  to  be  firmly  fixed  on  edge  on  the  ground,  as 
the  line  between  us,  which  neither  to  pass  his  foot  over  on  forfeit 
of  his  life.  Next  a  line  drawn  on  the  ground  on  either  side  of  said 
plank  and  parallel  with  it,  each  at  the  distance  of  the  whole  length 
of  the  sword,  and  three  feet  additional  from  the  plank ;  and  the 
passing  of  his  own  such  line  by  either  party  during  the  fight  shall 
be  deemed  a  surrender  of  the  contest. 

"  Third,  Time  —  On  Thursday  evening  at  five  o'clock,  if  you 
can  get  it  so;  but  in  no  case  to  be  at  a  greater  distance  of  time 
than  Friday  evening  at  five  o'clock. 


THE  CODE  DUELLO  339 

"  Fourth,  Place  — •  Within  three  miles  of  Alton,  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  river,  the  particular  spot  to  be  agreed  on  by  you." 

With  our  later  knowledge  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  pro- 
pensities, one  is  tempted  to  perceive  a  joke  cropping  out  in 
the  position  thus  gravely  prescribed  for  the  combatants,  for 
it  looks  as  though  "  both  were  thus  placed  safely  out  of 
harm's  way,  where  they  could  beat  the  air  with  their  trench- 
ant blades  for  ever  and  do  no  damage."  But  it  might  be 
well  to  remember,  in  this  connection,  the  unusual  length  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  arm,  and  feel  some  sympathy  for  his  op- 
ponent. However,  Shields  was  determined  to  fight,  regard- 
less of  terms,  and  all  parties  concerned  left  for  the  supposed 
field  of  carnage,  taking  a  physician  —  Dr.  Bledsoe,  a  most 
suggestive  name  —  along,  to  minister  to  the  wounded.  Later 
a  Dr.  Hope  —  possibly  selected  as  an  offset  to  his  more 
sanguinary  medical  brother  —  joined  the  party,  and  the  en- 
tire company  crossed  the  river  to  the  safety  of  the  Missouri 
shore.  But  peace  was  already  hovering  in  the  air  above 
them.  Outside  friends,  uniting  with  the  distressed  seconds, 
succeeded  in  harmonizing  all  difficulties,  and  the  ridiculous 
affair  was  ended  without  the  exchange  of  a  blow. 

But  other  complications  followed,  proving  scarcely  less 
farcical.  Mr.  William  Butler  had  officiated  during  this 
fiasco  as  a  special  friend  of  Lincoln's.  He  was  strongly 
favorable  to  a  fight,  and,  immediately  upon  returning  from 
the  bloodless  field,  in  his  disgust  at  the  result,  wrote  an 
account  of  the  affair  to  the  "Sangamo  Journal,"  which 
again  fired  Shields's  Milesian  blood  to  fever  heat.  A  chal- 
lenge promptly  followed,  was  as  promptly  accepted,  and 
again  Whiteside  and  Merriman  became  seconds  for  an 
"  affair."  The  preliminaries  were  bloodthirsty  enough, 
being  submitted  at  9  P.  M.  the  same  day,  October  3,  1842, 
as  follows:  Time — sunrise  the  following  morning;  Place 
—  Colonel  Robert  Allen's  farm  (a  mile  north  of  the  State 


340  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

House);  Weapons  —  rifles;  Distance  —  one  hundred  yards. 
It  was  stipulated  that  the  parties  were  to  stand  with  their 
right  sides  toward  each  other  —  the  rifles  to  be  held  in  both 
hands  horizontally,  and  cocked,  arms  extended  downwards, 
together  with  other  details.  These  conditions  were  in- 
dignantly spurned  by  Shields's  second  as  palpably  unfair; 
both  time  and  place  were  objected  to,  while  it  was  claimed 
the  position  to  be  assumed  gave  Butler  a  decided  advantage, 
he  being  left-handed.  The  seconds  failed  to  find  each 
other  during  the  night,  and  consequently  no  meeting  took 
place  the  following  morning ;  as  a  result  Butler  decided  the 
matter  closed,  thus  ending  the  affair. 

Yet,  in  one  sense,  it  was  not  even  yet  done  with,  for  now 
the  two  seconds,  Merriman  and  Whiteside,  promptly  broke 
out.  Whiteside's  reply  to  Merriman's  challenge  on  behalf 
of  Butler  had  been  so  curt  and  abrupt  in  its  language  as  to 
arouse  that  gentleman's  animosity  to  the  fighting-point.  A 
letter,  so  expressed  as  to  be  tantamount  to  a  challenge,  was 
at  once  despatched  to  Whiteside,  the  bearer  being  Abraham 
Lincoln.  He  brought  back  a  single  line,  reading:  "  I  have 
to  request  that  you  meet  me  at  the  Planter's  House,  in  the 
city  of  St.  Louis  on  next  Friday,  where  you  will  hear  from 
me  further."  Other  notes  passed  briskly  back  and  forth, 
one  man  insisting  on  a  meeting  at  St.  Louis,  the  other 
equally  strenuous  for  Louisiana,  Missouri.  In  this  way 
both  parties  managed  to  keep  at  a  safe  distance  from  each 
other,  until  finally  the  whole  controversy  died  out,  and 
from  all  these  bellicose  manifestations  not  a  single  blow 
was  struck  nor  shot  fired.  However,  the  combined  "af- 
fairs" added  much  to  the  gayety  of  the  State  at  large;  the 
newspapers  of  the  day  commented  widely  upon  them,  and 
thus  they  helped  greatly  to  bring  duelling  into  disrepute. 

During  the  Mexican  War  two  Illinoisans  of  promi- 
nence—  Drs.  Hope  and  Price  —  met  on  the  field  of  honor 
near  San  Antonio,  Texas,  and  exchanged  shots,  Price  being 


THE  CODE  DUELLO  341 

badly  wounded  in  the  abdomen.  But  in  Illinois  proper,  so 
far  as  known,  there  was  but  one  other  attempt  to  put  into 
practice  this  barbarous  method  of  settling  differences,  and 
that  led  directly  to  fixing  in  the  State  Constitution  of  1848 
the  stringent  clause  relating  to  duelling.  The  two  parties 
involved  in  this  affair  were  O.  C.  Pratt,  from  Jo  Daviess 
County,  and  his  colleague  in  the  House,  Thompson  Camp- 
bell. The  difficulty  between  them  arose  over  a  political 
question,  but  intemperate  language  indulged  in  upon  both 
sides  soon  brought  forth  mutual  invitations  to  meet  at  St. 
Louis,  and  have  the  matter  out  according  to  the  code.  Alike 
willing,  Campbell  put  up  at  the  Planter's  Hotel,  and  Pratt 
at  the  Monroe,  while  their  respective  seconds  busied  them- 
selves with  the  preliminaries  of  conflict.  Unfortunately  for 
the  cause  of  sport,  their  bloodthirsty  purposes  were  not  kept 
sufficiently  secret;  one  Blennerhasset,  a  St.  Louis  alder- 
man, made  affidavit  to  the  challenge,  and  late  on  the  night 
preceding  the  proposed  meeting  both  parties  were  arrested 
and  placed  under  heavy  bonds  to  keep  the  peace.  It  was 
even  whispered  about  the  State  that  this  outcome  was  in 
accordance  with  a  carefully  prearranged  scheme  to  attain  a 
name  for  bravery,  while  running  comparatively  little  danger 
of  sustaining  personal  injury.  The  gentlemen  involved  re- 
turned to  Illinois,  and  calmly  resumed  their  interrupted 
legislative  duties. 

The  Harris-Henry  affair,  which,  however,  was  one  en- 
tirely of  words,  occurred  also  about  this  time,  being  like- 
wise political  in  its  origin,  but  harked  back  to  incidents  in 
the  Mexican  War.  During  the  heat  of  the  election  campaign 
of  1848,  Dr.  A.  G.  Henry  delivered  a  speech  at  Beardstown, 
in  which  he  charged  Major  Thomas  L.  Harris,  candidate  for 
Congress,  with  "  skulking  at  the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo ; 
that  he  could  prove  this,  and  would  repeat  it  to  his  face  the 
following  week."  Harris  at  once  took  it  up,  demanding 
an  interview  with  the  Doctor.  That  gentleman's  response  to 


342  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

this  seemingly  natural  request  was:  "  I  have  no  business 
with  Major  Harris,  and  do  not  desire  a  personal  interview." 
Harris  then  demanded  that  he  make  good  his  Beardstown 
statement,  to  which  the  Doctor  denied  having  spoken  just  as 
reported,  and  offered  to  refer  the  matter  to  a  committee,  but 
added  that  he  must  leave  town  that  morning  to  keep  his 
speaking  appointments.  Major  Harris  then  proved  by  four 
good  citizens,  in  a  published  card,  that  Henry  had  made  the 
statement  in  the  exact  language  given,  whereupon  he  de- 
nounced him  to  the  world  as  a  liar,  a  scoundrel,  and  a 
coward  —  and  that  was  the  last  of  the  trouble. 

By  the  old  law  of  the  State,  as  already  referred  to,  the 
penalty  for  duelling,  if  the  issue  proved  fatal,  was  death,  the 
same  as  in  a  case  of  murder,  but  for  mere  "  affairs  "  not 
having  fatal  termination,  it  was  disability  for  holding  any 
office  of  trust,  honor,  or  emolument,  together  with  small 
fines.  There  was  no  restraint,  and  there  had  never  been  a 
conviction  for  the  lesser  offence,  because  the  law  was  easily 
evaded  by  parties  going  outside  the  State  to  do  their  fighting. 
The  Pratt-Campbell  affair,  however,  was  given  wide  pub- 
licity, and  the  legislators  endeavored  to  find  a  remedy,  fram- 
ing an  oath  of  office,  and  incorporating  it  in  the  constitution, 
so  broad  in  terms  of  disfranchisement  as  to  cover  not  only 
Illinois,  but  all  the  world  besides.  Of  course  no  such  juris- 
diction was  possible,  yet  in  a  moral  way  it  had  its  appreciable 
effect.  This  form  of  oath  passed  in  the  convention  by  a  vote 
of  seventy-four  to  forty-four;  and  it  may  be  remarked  that 
both  Pratt  and  Campbell  refused  to  vote,  while  the  still  bel- 
ligerent General  Whiteside  was  numbered  among  the  nays. 

Since  this  passage,  with  the  exception  of  parties  coming 
into  the  State  for  the  express  purpose  of  settling  difficulties 
arising  elsewhere,  no  duels,  or  attempts  at  duels,  have  oc- 
curred in  Illinois.  Missourians  frequently  resorted  to  the 
small  islands  in  the  Mississippi  for  duelling  purposes,  and  a 
number  of  notable  meetings  have  thus  occurred,  the  most 


THE  CODE  DUELLO  343 

famous  probably  being  that  between  Governor  Reynolds  of 
Missouri  and  B.  Gratz  Brown.  Duels  between  Illinois  citi- 
zens, or  in  which  former  Illinoisans  were  involved,  were 
fought,  however,  two  occurring  in  California,  with  fatal 
results.  Another  meeting,  or  threatened  meeting,  was  of 
sufficient  importance  to  be  given  space  in  this  review.  It 
occurred  under  these  circumstances  :  Mr.  Bissell,  who  had 
been  Colonel  of  the  Second  Illinois  Volunteers  in  Mexico, 
was  a  new  member  in  Congress,  when  Mr.  Selden,  of  Vir- 
ginia, in  the  course  of  a  rather  bitter  attack  on  Northern 
courage,  awarded  the  entire  credit  of  saving  the  day  at  Buena 
Vista  to  a  Mississippi  regiment,  of  which  Jefferson  Davis 
had  been  Colonel.  Mr.  Bissell  promptly  took  the  matter 
up,  claiming  that  special  honor  for  the  Second  Kentucky, 
Second  Illinois,  and  a  portion  of  the  First  Illinois  Regiments, 
and  stating  that  at  the  moment  referred  to  the  Mississippi 
regiment  was  not  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  the  scene  of 
action.  Determined  to  crush  any  Northerner  who  ventured 
on  such  boldness,  Mr.  Davis  at  once  challenged  Mr.  Bissell. 
To  the  surprise  of  the  Southern  fire-eaters,  this  challenge  was 
immediately  accepted.  There  was  not  a  moment's  hesi- 
tancy. The  Illinoisan  left  the  preliminaries  for  friends  to 
arrange,  stipulating  only  as  to  weapons  and  distance.  These 
were  common  army  muskets,  loaded  with  a  ball  and  three 
buckshot;  the  combatants  to  be  stationed  at  forty  paces, 
with  liberty  to  advance  to  ten.  This  so  evidently  meant 
business,  and  a  determination  to  fight  to  the  death,  that  the 
fire-eaters  were  thoroughly  amazed.  Nevertheless,  the  meet- 
ing was  definitely  arranged  for  the  following  day,  February 
28,  at  an  appointed  rendezvous.  But  at  a  late  hour  that 
night  friends  of  both  parties  got  together  and  arranged  a 
satisfactory  compromise,  by  having  inserted  in  Mr.  Bissell's 
reply  to  Colonel  Davis,  in  speaking  of  his  command,  the 
words,  "  but  I  am  willing  to  award  to  them  the  credit  due 
to  their  gallant  and  distinguished  services  in  that  battle." 


344  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

This  was  held  as  full  satisfaction  to  all  concerned,  and  the 
matter  was  dropped. 

As  late  as  1856  another  Illinoisan  was  involved  in  a  some- 
what similar  controversy,  the  party  challenged  being  Senator 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  his  challenger  General  J.  H.  Lane, 
well  known  in  Kansas  for  fighting  propensities.  The  dif- 
ficulty originated  over  a  forged  memorial,  which  Mr.  Doug- 
las, as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  Territories,  denounced 
in  severe  terms.  The  newspapers  took  it  up  eagerly,  and 
between  them  and  hot-headed  friends,  General  Lane,  who 
was  personally  connected  with  the  presentation  of  the  me- 
morial, was  urged  to  hostile  action.  Under  date  of  April, 
1856,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Douglas,  asking  for  "  such  an 
explanation  of  your  language  as  will  remove  all  imputation 
upon  the  integrity  of  my  action  or  motives  in  connection  with 
that  memorial."  Again  had  a  grievous  mistake  been  made 
in  judging  a  man.  Douglas  replied  at  once,  and  in  scathing 
terms  reiterating  all  the  facts  in  the  case,  concluding : 
"  My  reply  is,  that  there  are  no  facts  within  my  knowledge 
which  can  remove  all  imputation  upon  the  integrity  of  your 
action  or  motives  in  connection  with  that  memorial."  There 
was  nothing  more  said  about  a  duel,  "  although  General 
Lane,  sixty  days  later,  published  an  abusive  card  in  the 
Washington  papers,  which  injured  its  author  more  than  it 
did  Senator  Douglas." 

Thus  in  ridicule  and  disgrace,  scourged  alike  by  the  law 
and  by  public  sentiment,  the  code  duello  passed  for  ever 
from  the  State. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

SOME   PECULIAR   COLONIES 

EVEN  in  the  earliest  days  of  American  settlement  col- 
onies became  a  special  feature  of  Illinois'  growing 
population.  The  very  first  American  settlement,  that  about 
Bellefontaine  and  New  Design,  was  made  by  a  party  of 
neighbors  migrating  to  the  new  land  in  a  compact  body, 
while  many  others,  similarly  bound  together  by  ties  of 
friendship  or  religious  faith,  continued  to  follow.  In  the 
more  northern  counties,  when  New  England  began  adding 
her  quota  to  the  incoming  throng,  this  community  interest 
became  especially  noticeable.  In  Henry  County  alone, 
Andover,  Wethersfield,  Geneseo,  Morristown,  La  Grange, 
and  Bishop  Hill  all  originated  in  well-organized  colony 
movements,  the  emigrants  coming  generally  in  a  body,  and 
settling  upon  land  previously  selected  for  occupancy  by  an 
agent  or  committee.  In  many  cases  religious  belief  was  the 
principle  binding  the  colony  members  together,  entire 
churches  migrating  to  this  new  region,  bringing  their  pastors 
with  them,  as  was  the  case  with  the  earlier  settlers  of  Princeton. 
Nor  were  foreign  colonists  altogether  lacking  from  the 
earliest  days.  As  far  back  as  1808,  Samuel  O'Melvany,  an 
Irishman  who  soon  became  well  known  and  popular  the 
full  length  of  the  frontier,  led  a  colony  of  Irish  families  down 
the  Ohio  River  until  they  made  permanent  settlement  near 
the  present  town  of  Elizabeth,  in  the  county  of  Hardin.  Here 
for  many  years  they  prospered  as  an  organized  colony,  mu- 
tually helpful  to  each  other,  and  through  the  compactness 
of  their  settlement  remained  largely  immune  from  Indian 
attack,  although  surrounded  by  the  fierce  Shawnees. 

345 


346  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Soon  after  the  War  of  1812,  Morris  Birbeck,  an  English- 
man greatly  interested  in  democratic  institutions,  paid  an 
extended  visit  to  Illinois,  seeking  a  spot  for  the  location  of  a 
selected  colony  of  his  own  countrymen.  While  travelling 
through  this  section  he  contributed  freely  to  English  news- 
papers, and  being  a  man  of  keen  observation  and  scholarly 
attainments,  these  letters  were  widely  read  and  commented 
upon  abroad.  Not  long  after,  he  and  George  Flower,  both 
being  men  of  independent  wealth,  the  latter  imbued  deeply 
with  the  community  idea  then  prevalent  among  religious  en- 
thusiasts in  the  old  country,  who  dreamed  of  an  ideal  State 
in  the  wilderness,  brought  out  a  large  colony  from  England. 
Several  hundred  families,  representing  almost  every  in- 
dustrial pursuit,  were  included  in  this  body,  which  located 
within  the  present  limits  of  Edwards  County.  Mr.  Flower, 
with  his  more  direct  followers,  established  the  town  of  Albion, 
now  the  county  seat,  where  the  community  idea  was  put  into 
successful  operation,  and  continued  to  flourish  for  some 
years.  About  a  mile  west  of  this  site,  Mr.  Birbeck  established 
another  town,  called  vVannock,  which,  however,  proved  a 
failure.  Considerable  rivalry  existed  between  the  two  places 
for  several  years,  and  as,  besides  the  leaders,  there  was  much 
wealth  and  refinement  in  both  colonies,  no  little  attention 
was  paid  to  social  matters.  Mr.  Flower,  unfortunately 
for  the  future  development  of  his  colony  along  the  lines 
originally  projected,  lost  his  fortune  by  the  breaking  of  the 
United  States  Bank,  and  soon  after  removed  to  Mt.  Vernon, 
Indiana.  Several  of  his  descendants  yet  continue  to  reside 
in  Edwards  County.  Mr.  Birbeck  became  Secretary  of 
State  under  Governor  Coles,  and  was  very  prominent  in  the 
fight  against  slavery.  He  was  drowned  in  a  bayou  of  the 
Wabash,  called  Fox  River,  which  was  swollen  by  rain.  Ac- 
companied only  by  his  son,  while  on  his  way  home  from 
New  Harmony,  Indiana  (then  in  charge  of  the  famous 
Robert  Owen  communists),  where  they  had  been  visiting, 


SOME  PECULIAR  COLONIES  347 

he  attempted  to  cross  the  stream,  but  the  rapid  current  swept 
the  horses  aside  into  deep  water,  and  both  horses  and  Mr. 
Birbeck  perished.  His  son  barely  escaped  the  same  fate. 
It  may  be  possible  that  in  Albion  to-day  a  few  of  the 
original  settlers  yet  reside  ;  certain  it  is  their  descendants 
are  quite  numerous  throughout  Edwards  County. 

Some  time  about  1815,  two  German  families,  named 
Markee  and  Germain,  first  settled  in  a  deep  gorge  of  the 
Mississippi  bluff,  in  St.  Clair  County,  which  soon  became 
known  throughout  the  surrounding  region  as  Dutch  Hollow. 
These  two  families  became  a  nucleus  for  the  present  large 
German  population  of  St.  Clair  and  the  counties  adjoining. 
Another  English  colony,  but  Roman  Catholic,  and  bringing 
their  own  priest  with  them,  settled  as  early  as  1817  in  Prairie 
du  Long  Creek,  Monroe  County.  This  company  was  com- 
posed of  from  fifteen  to  twenty  families,  originally  from 
Lancaster,  the  names  of  the  founders  being  Thomas  Win- 
stantly,  Bamber,  Threlfall,  and  Newsham.  They  prospered, 
and  became  a  thrifty  settlement.  A  third  English  colony 
settled  in  Green  County  in  1820,  and  were  successful.  In 
1819,  Ferdinand  Ernst,  who  was  a  gentleman  of  wealth  and 
literary  taste,  having  his  home  in  the  kingdom  of  Hanover, 
brought  to  Vandalia,  then  just  selected  as  the  State  capital, 
a  thrifty  German  colony  of  about  thirty  families.  Later, 
in  1822,  Bernard  Steiner  settled  a  small  Swiss  community, 
consisting  originally  of  ten  families,  in  the  southeastern  part 
of  St.  Clair  County.  Their  location  was  on  a  beautiful  and 
commanding  eminence  soon  known  as  Dutch  Hill.  Others 
of  their  race  followed,  and  it  became  a  large  and  influential 
settlement. 

But  the  two  colony  schemes  of  most  interest,  whether 
from  a  religious  or  a  communistic  point  of  view,  working 
out  their  destinies  in  Illinois,  were  those  at  Bishop  Hill,  in 
Henry  County,  and  the  settlement  of  the  Icarians  at  Nauvoo. 
The  founder  of  the  former  colony  was  Eric  Jansen,  a  man 


348  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

of  about  forty  years  of  age,  a  native  of  Sweden.  Although 
of  strong  religious  faith,  he  abjured  the  Lutheran  Church, 
which  exercised  theological  domination  in  his  native 
land,  and  by  precept  and  preaching  gathered  about  him 
some  eleven  hundred  adherents  to  his  independent  belief. 
Controversy  and  persecution  followed,  during  which  Jansen 
and  many  of  his  followers  suffered  imprisonment  and  other 
hardships.  For  more  than  three  years  this  unequal  struggle 
for  liberty  of  conscience  continued,  but  the  opposition  was 
too  strong  to  be  overcome,  and  a  decision  was  finally  reached 
to  emigrate  in  a  body  to  America.  One  of  the  principal 
tenets  of  their  religion  was  that  all  things  should  be  in  com- 
mon, so  that  no  poor  should  go  unprovided  for,  and  none 
suffer  from  lack  of  means.  Among  the  earliest  converts  to 
this  belief  were  Messrs.  Hedine  and  Olsen,  both  men  of 
wealth,  who  gave  freely  to  aid  the  needy. 

The  ordinary  authorities  refusing  passports,  the  King 
was  appealed  to  in  person,  and  he  permitted  them  to  depart 
from  the  country.  Under  this  authority,  eleven  hundred 
people  set  sail  from  Sweden  in  the  Summer  of  1846,  reached 
New  York  in  October  of  the  same  year,  and  a  month  later 
some  seven  hundred  of  them  arrived  at  Bishop  Hill,  in  this 
State,  for  settlement.  About  four  hundred  of  the  original 
colonists  shifted  to  other  locations  on  the  route,  many  of 
these  latter  proving  impostors,  who  had  joined  the  colony 
for  no  higher  purpose  than  to  get  their  passages  paid  to 
America. 

Mr.  Jansen,  who  had  come  in  advance  of  these  others, 
had  been  compelled  to  escape  from  Sweden  into  Norway, 
leaving  that  country  under  an  assumed  name.  At  New  York 
he  met  his  people,  and  guided  them  to  the  location  already 
selected  for  settlement.  Olof  Olsen,  a  brother  of  the  man 
of  wealth  already  mentioned,  had  been  the  avant-courrler 
of  these  colonists,  selecting  the  spot  for  their  occupancy. 
While  here  on  his  first  visit  of  exploration,  he  purchased  a 


SOME  PECULIAR  COLONIES  349 

farm  at  the  east  end  of  Red  Oak  Grove,  this  becoming  the 
nucleus  for  those  to  follow.  The  colonists  first  settled  along 
the  south  bank  of  South  Edward  Creek,  a  small,  sluggish 
stream.  The  site  was  a  beautiful  one,  sparsely  covered  with 
a  small  growth  of  oaks.  Possessing  neither  material  for 
building,  nor  means  to  purchase  any,  they  were  content  to 
erect  tents  and  coverings  of  brush  for  immediate  protection. 
These  soon  proving  inadequate,  caves  were  dug  in  the  hill- 
side, wherein  many  of  the  colonists,  with  their  families, 
managed  to  pass  their  first  Winter  in  America.  These 
caves  were  where  the  village  park  is  now  laid  out.  The 
hardships  following  such  conditions  of  life  proved  greater 
than  many  of  the  members  had  resolution  to  endure.  Some 
stole  away  singly,  others  in  little  squads,  leaving  the  stronger 
and  more  resolute  to  fight  it  out  to  the  end. 

These  were,  indeed,  in  most  lamentable  stress.  The 
journey  had  nearly  exhausted  the  funds  of  the  society,  and 
they  possessed  no  credit.  Yet  one  thing  was  certain,  by 
some  means  provisions  for  a  year  must  be  secured,  or  the 
entire  company  was  doomed.  Not  a  man  among  them, 
except  a  sailor  who  had  picked  up  a  few  words,  could  speak 
any  English,  but  John  Olsen,  who  seemingly  was  gifted  with 
the  faculty  of  sign  language,  undertook  to  provide  the  neces- 
sary food,  and  succeeded  tolerably  well  while  money  lasted. 
After  that  the  struggle  was  truly  desperate,  yet  was  bravely 
lived  through  until  Spring  brought  sufficient  amounts  from 
Europe  to  relieve  their  more  pressing  needs. 

Little  by  little  the  mud  caves  gave  way  to  houses  labo- 
riously constructed  of  unbaked  brick,  with  an  occasional 
small  frame  structure.  These  were  all  very  inferior  ;  but  in 
1849  a  four-story  brick  house  was  erected,  about  one  hun- 
dred feet  in  length  and  forty-five  in  width.  The  basement 
of  this  building  was  intended  for  a  general  dining-room, 
while  the  upper  portion  was  arranged  into  apartments 
for  families.  In  1851  this  structure  was  extended  another 


350  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

hundred  feet,  and  is  still  occupied  by  newcomers  in 
the  community  who  are  unable  to  provide  their  separate 
homes.  A  large  frame  building,  the  upper  part  being  de- 
signed for  a  church,  while  the  basement  was  partitioned  off 
for  families,  was  erected  as  early  as  1849,  t^le  religious  en- 
thusiasm of  the  colonists  leading  them  to  prepare  a  house 
of  worship  even  before  securing  their  own  personal  comfort. 
This  building  still  stands,  and  is  used  for  the  purposes  for 
which  it  was  originally  erected. 

An  English  school  was  established  here  in  January, 
1847,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  Rev.  Mr.  Talbot,  teaching  a 
class  of  thirty-five  in  a  mud  cave.  Many  lines  of  industry 
were  followed  by  the  colonists,  much  attention  being  given 
to  orchards  and  the  cultivation  of  small  fruits,  but  with  in- 
different success.  A  brewery  for  the  manufacture  of  small 
beer,  a  favorite  beverage  of  the  Swedes,  was  early  started, 
and  by  1851  a  commodious  brick  building  for  this  purpose 
was  erected.  A  grist-mill  on  a  small  scale  was  soon  in  op- 
eration on  Edwards  Creek,  and  two  sawmills  soon  followed 
upon  the  banks  of  the  same  stream.  A  steam  grist-mill 
was  commenced  as  early  as  1849.  Flax  was  tne  staple  crop 
for  several  years,  which  was  principally  woven  into  linen  of 
various  grades,  the  coarsest  being  used  for  carpeting.  Up 
to  1857,  after  which  little  was  manufactured  for  sale,  the 
aggregate  amount  of  linen  sold  was  130,309  yards  ;  of  car- 
peting, 22,569  yards.  Some  of  this  linen  was  quite  fine, 
but  the  coarser  kinds  proved  to  be  most  in  demand  ;  large 
quantities  were  peddled  from  house  to  house  through  the 
surrounding  districts.  The  necessary  spinning  and  weav- 
ing were  performed  almost  entirely  by  the  women,  children 
doing  the  spooning.  In  early  years,  looms  being  scarce, 
the  work  was  kept  running  night  and  day. 

The  correct  conduct  of  these  people,  the  purity  of  their 
lives,  and  their  industry,  soon  won  the  respect  of  their  im- 
mediate neighbors,  yet  they  suffered  greatly  from  the  strange 


SOME  PECULIAR  COLONIES  351 

climate  and  the  exposure  of  those  earlier  years.  Great 
numbers  sickened  and  died  ;  mortality  among  the  children 
was  fearful.  During  the  cholera  scourge  of  1849-52,  men 
would  go  to  their  work  in  the  morning  in  good  health,  and 
lie  dead  before  sundown.  This  cause,  coupled  with  de- 
sertion, at  one  time  reduced  the  colony  to  four  hundred  and 
fourteen  souls,  but  this  remnant  hung  on  with  grim  courage. 
In  their  pathetic  struggle  against  want  and  death,  in  their 
frugality  and  industry,  in  their  unselfish  efforts  to  serve 
each  other,  in  the  vitality  of  their  faith,  during  these  years 
of  poverty  and  sickness  and  death,  they  exhibited  a  fortitude 
almost  unequalled  in  the  history  of  Illinois  settlement. 

At  this  time,  and  up  to  the  year  1860,  everything  the 
colony  possessed  was  held  in  common.  Families  lived 
apart,  generally  in  substantial  brick  buildings,  subdivided 
so  as  to  give  separate  accommodation  to  from  eight  to  twenty 
families  each;  many  of  these  buildings  are  yet  standing  and 
occupied.  But  all  worked  together,  and  at  meal-time  par- 
took of  the  same  food  in  the  huge  dining-rooms.  Every 
member  was  required  to  perform  a  certain  amount  of  labor, 
and,  after  receiving  sufficient  clothing  and  food  from  the 
products,  all  that  remained  was  used  for  the  purchase  of 
more  land,  or  the  erection  of  additional  buildings.  Drones, 
however,  early  began  to  appear  in  this  line  of  industry,  and 
after  only  fourteen  years  of  effort,  it  became  clear  that  the 
beautiful  theories  of  Mr.  Jansen-  must  fail  in  practical  life, 
and  the  colony  became  divided. 

Two  parties  formed,  one  known  as  the  Johnson  (Jansen) 
party,  the  other  rallying  under  the  leadership  of  Olsen.  The 
former  was  the  more  numerous,  and  in  the  division  of  prop- 
erty which  followed  obtained  about  two-thirds  of  the  land 
and  personalty.  No  serious  difficulties  arose  over  this 
division,  and  the  individual  affairs  of  the  colony  continued 
undisturbed,  but  a  year  later  the  Johnson  party  made  an- 
other step  toward  the  final  disruption  of  the  commune  by 


352  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

making  an  individual  distribution  of  all  their  farm  and 
town  possessions.  This  was  accomplished  as  follows.  To 
every  person,  male  or  female,  who  had  then  attained  the 
age  of  thirty-five  years,  a  full  share  of  all  lands,  timber 
and  town  lots,  and  personal  property  was  given.  A  full 
share  consisted  of  twenty-two  acres  of  land,  one  timber  lot, 
—  nearly  two  acres,  —  one  town  lot,  and  an  equal  part  in 
all  barns,  horses,  cattle,  hogs,  sheep,  farming  implements, 
and  household  utensils.  All  under  that  age  received  a  share 
corresponding  in  amount  and  value  to  the  age  of  the  indi- 
vidual, no  discrimination  being  shown  between  the  sexes. 
The  smallest  share  was  about  eight  acres,  the  other  prop- 
erty in  proportion.  Thus  a  man  over  thirty-five,  having  a 
wife  of  that  age,  and  several  children,  would  receive  many 
acres  of  land,  and  considerable  property  to  manage.  He 
held  that  of  the  wife  and  children  simply  in  trust,  the  deeds 
to  all  the  property  being  made  in  the  name  of  the  family 
head.  This  division  is  still  maintained,  and  its  wisdom  was 
long  ago  demonstrated  by  results.  The  Olsen  party  mean- 
time continued  to  cling  to  the  old  colony  system,  but,  in 
little  less  than  a  year,  they  also  were  convinced  of  its  weak- 
ness, and  divided  their  property  on  the  same  basis  with  the 
others.  Their  shares,  however,  were  not  quite  so  large. 

One  tragedy  came  into  this  peaceful  colony  life  to  mar 
the  fraternity  marking  its  years  of  existence,  and  that  cost 
the  life  of  its  founder,  Eric  Jansen.  In  the  Fall  of  1848,  an 
adventurer  named  Root,  the  son  of  a  wealthy  family  of 
Stockholm,  made  his  appearance  at  Bishop  Hill.  Express- 
ing a  desire  to  become  one  of  the  fraternity,  he  was  admitted 
without  opposition.  Soon  afterwards  he  contracted  mar- 
riage with  a  cousin  of  Eric  Jansen,  which  was  agreed  to 
under  a  special  restriction,  that  if  Root  ever  decided  to  de- 
sert the  colony,  he  should  go  alone,  leaving  his  wife  to  the 
full  enjoyment  of  her  colony  rights.  Root  proved  an  ut- 
terly worthless  fellow,  constitutionally  opposed  to  labor  of 


RUINS  OF  ICARIAN   BREWERY  AT  NAUVOO 


COLONY  linrSK  AT  I'.ISIIOP  HILL 


SOME  PECULIAR  COLONIES  353 

any  kind,  and  desiring  nothing  but  to  roam  the  woods  with 
his  gun.  His  treatment  of  his  wife  was  tyrannical,  and 
when  he  finally  decided  to  leave,  she  was  not  regretful  of 
the  separation.  Several  months  later,  however,  and  soon 
after  his  wife  had  given  birth  to  a  son,  Root  reappeared, 
and  insisted  upon  her  leaving  the  colony  with  him.  This 
the  woman  did  not  desire  to  do,  and  was  sustained  in  her 
decision  by  Jansen,  whom  the  infuriated  husband  threat- 
ened with  a  drawn  bowie-knife. 

Unable  to  persuade,  Root  determined  to  resort  to  force. 
Obtaining  the  services  of  a  young  man  named  Stanley,  who 
belonged  at  Cambridge,  he  stationed  him  with  a  horse  and 
buggy  near  town,  and,  while  the  community  were  at  dinner, 
succeeded  in  forcing  the  woman  to  accompany  him,  and 
drove  rapidly  away.  Pursuit  was  prompt,  and  Root  and 
Stanley  were  overtaken  within  two  miles;  but  being  heavily 
armed,  they  stood  off  the  brethren  for  some  time,  until 
finally  Stanley  surrendered,  and  Root  yielded  up  his  wife 
to  her  friends.  Legal  proceedings  followed,  during  which 
Mrs.  Root  was  conducted  to  Cambridge  under  the  custody 
of  the  sheriff.  Here  Root  stole  her  the  second  time,  driving 
across  country  to  Rock  Island,  and  taking  her  to  Chicago, 
where  she  was  later  recovered  by  the  colonists  and  safely 
returned  to  Bishop  Hill.  At  the  May  term  of  court  in  1850, 
Root  and  Jansen  met  at  the  court-house  in  Cambridge, 
and  just  as  the  court  adjourned  for  dinner,  the  former  shot 
the  latter,  who  expired  in  a  few  hours.  Root  was  tried  for 
murder,  received  a  penitentiary  sentence,  and  died  shortly 
after  its  expiration.  The  old  buildings  at  Bishop  Hill  re- 
main, and  many  of  the  old  customs,  to  tell  the  story  of  a 
beautiful  dream  of  fraternity  which  was  not  practical  enough 
to  survive  the  continued  strain  of  experiment. 

Soon  after  the  last  remnant  of  Mormon  population  dis- 
appeared from  Nauvoo  on  their  long  journey  to  Salt  Lake, 
there  appeared  on  that  historic  spot  the  advance  agents  of  a 


354 


HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 


new  colony,  seeking  opportunity  to  exploit  other  peculiar 
theories  of  social  life  in  this  far  western  country.  Nauvoo, 
in  its  pathetic  desolation,  with  empty  buildings  awaiting  oc- 
cupancy, and  property  held  cheaply,  was  apparently  an 
ideal  site  for  such  an  experiment,  and  the  agents  returned 
hastily  down  the  river  to  the  waiting  colonists  at  New  Or- 
leans, with  a  favorable  report,  and  an  option  on  the  land. 
These  new  arrivals  were  the  Icarians,  a  considerable  body 
of  communists,  organized  in  France,  under  the  leadership 
of  Etienne  Cabet,  the  brilliant  son  of  a  cooper  of  Dijon, 
then  fifty-one  years  of  age.  The  foundations  of  his  dream 
of  absolute  equality,  as  typified  in  a  democratic  republic  to 
be  called  Icaria,  were  laid  as  early  as  1830,  and  by  1847 
four  hundred  thousand  names  were  reported  as  signed  to 
the  Social  Compact.  A  year  later,  having  obtained  a  large 
tract  of  land  in  Texas,  an  avant-garde  of  sixty-nine  chosen 
men  sailed  from  France  to  take  formal  possession.  Others 
followed,  but,  from  various  causes,  more  particularly  the 
nature  of  the  country  and  the  prevalence  of  malarial  fever, 
this  first  colonization  was  an  utter  failure,  so  that  when,  in 
1849,  Cabet  reached  New  Orleans  and  took  personal  com- 
mand of  the  entire  force, — then  numbering  five  hundred, 
including  many  women  and  children, —  agents  were  de- 
spatched up  the  Mississippi  seeking  a  more  suitable  location 
for  permanent  settlement. 

In  March,  1849,  tne  remnant  of  the  colony,  still  firm  in 
the  belief  in  their  dream,  began  their  journey  up  the  river. 
It  proved  a  fearful  one.  Cholera  broke  out  and  many 
died.  On  reaching  Warsaw,  twenty  miles  below  Nauvoo, 
ice  blocked  further  passage  northward  by  steamer,  and  they 
were  compelled  to  tramp  the  remainder  of  the  way  knee- 
deep  in  snow  and  slush,  carrying  children  and  sick  as  best 
they  could.  At  Nauvoo  they  found  some  comfort,  in  the 
houses  still  standing  as  the  banished  Mormons  had  left  them, 
yet  much  suffering  remained.  The  climate  was  severe, 


SOME  PECULUR  COLONIES  355 

water  unwholesome,  food  costly,  indeed  nearly  impossible 
to  obtain  at  any  price.  For  months  they  subsisted  almost 
entirely  upon  beans.  But  in  the  midst  of  all  this  hardship 
the  spirit  of  the  Icarians  remained  unbroken.  Slowly  they 
built  their  little  commonwealth,  a  mere  child's  toy  com- 
pared to  the  stately  city  of  their  leader's  enthusiastic  plan, 
yet  ruled  by  the  same  laws,  controlled  by  the  same  ideals, 
which  had  made  them  exiles.  Six  directors,  elected  annually, 
controlled  the  administration  ;  the  laws  were  made  by  a 
general  assembly  including  all  men  over  twenty.  Cabet 
was  elected  president  year  after  year,  yet  exercised  little 
authority,  as  the  title  was  merely  one  of  honor. 

The  colony  was  purely  communistic,  the  members  putting 
their  every  possession,  even  to  loved  books  and  heirlooms, 
into  the  common  fund.  Furniture,  tools,  and  cooking 
utensils  were  equally  divided ;  tasks  and  hours  of  labor 
were  so  arranged  as  to  be  evenly  proportioned.  Homes 
were  indeed  separate,  each  family  occupying  its  own  house, 
but  the  colony  school  reared  the  children  in  communion, 
and  removed  them  as  far  as  practicable  from  all  home- 
making  influences.  All  ate  at  one  common  table,  and  in 
every  way  possible  individualism  was  crowded  into  the  back- 
ground, and  treated  as  unworthy. 

And  for  a  while  this  strange  community  on  the  Nauvoo 
Bluffs  flourished  and  increased.  It  became  fairly  prosper- 
ous. By  1855  they  had,  with  vast  industry  and  self-denial, 
erected  mills  and  workshops  ;  their  farms  were  well  tilled  ; 
their  school  ranked  among  the  very  best  in  the  infant  State. 
A  well-selected  library  of  choicest  literature  had  been  es- 
tablished, containing  over  six  thousand  volumes,  while  an 
orchestra,  well  organized  and  trained,  was  the  marvel  of 
the  neighbors.  The  colony  even  published  for  some  time 
a  weekly  magazine,  which  won  a  wide  circulation  both  in 
this  country  and  in  Europe,  being  printed  in  three  dif- 
ferent languages.  New  members  were  constantly  arriving, 


356  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  the  later  years  saw  a  higher  grade  of  newcomers  —  men 
and  women  of  gentle  birth  and  refined  culture.  Katharine 
Holland  Brown  —  to  whom  acknowledgment  is  made  for 
the  facts  of  this  connected  story  —  in  her  sympathetic  article 
in  "  Harper's  Magazine,"  speaks  of  several  accomplished 
musicians  ;  two  painters  of  wide  reputation;  a  famous  civil 
engineer  ;  a  physician  who  had  stood  at  the  head  of  his 
profession  in  Vienna  ;  Dadant,  the  authority  on  bee-culture  ; 
Piquenard,  afterward  architect  of  the  capitol  buildings  of 
both  Iowa  and  Illinois  ;  Vallet,  the  sociologist  ;  and  Von 
Gauvain,  nobleman,  officer,  and  teacher.  Surely  here  was 
the  foundation  for  a  noble  state,  and  Icaria's  prospects  for 
the  future  were  bright  with  promise. 

Yet  with  this  very  moment  of  highest  possibilities  the 
fatal  step  was  taken  which  led  direct  to  ruin,  and  Cabet, 
the  founder,  that  remarkable  man  whose  mind  had  dreamt 
the  dream  of  this  realization,  was  himself  the  cause  of  fail- 
ure, even  as  he  had  been  the  inspiration  for  success.  Late 
in  1855  he  seemingly  became  tired  of  being  president  only 
in  name,  and  made  an  ineffectual  effort  to  have  the  con- 
stitution of  the  colony  so  revised  as  to  give  him  almost  dic- 
tatorial powers.  This  was  so  utterly  opposed  not  only  to 
the  original  purpose  of  the  colony  but  to  Cabet's  previously 
avowed  principles,  that  for  a  brief  while  the  astonished  com- 
mune remained  bewildered.  Then  the  members  rose  to 
the  issue,  every  man  taking  either  one  side  or  the  other  in 
the  ensuing  contest,  until  the  entire  town  was  rent  into  two 
bitterly  hostile  camps,  but  the  majority  opposing  the  new 
project. 

The  election  which  soon  followed  deposed  Cabet  entirely, 
but,  trusting  to  the  veneration  in  which  he  had  long  been 
held  by  his  followers,  he  appealed  personally  to  the  assem- 
bled voters,  in  a  dramatic  scene,  withdrew  his  demands  for 
new  powers,  and  the  people  again  conferred  upon  him  the 
title  of  president.  A  brief  peace  followed,  but  in  August 


SOME  PECULIAR  COLONIES  357 

the  smouldering  flames  burst  forth  anew,  when  Cabet,  again 
becoming  impatient  for  power,  commanded  his  old  officials 
to  refuse  to  vacate  their  positions  to  those  who  had  been 
newly  elected.  The  new  directors  were,  however,  put  in  by 
force,  the  majority  of  the  communists  rallying  about  them, 
and  immediately  all  of  Cabet's  loyal  followers  in  the  colony 
dropped  their  tools,  and  refused  to.  work  any  longer.  It 
was  a  strike  almost  modern  in  the  form  as  well  as  the  way 
in  which  it  was  carried  on.  Both  parties  were  extremely 
foolish  in  their  anger  and  vindictiveness.  They  would  not 
speak  on  the  street,  and  turned  their  backs  in  passing. 
Those  of  the  opposing  party  so  arranged  their  tables  in  the 
long  dining-hall  as  not  to  face  Cabet  while  eating,  while  even 
the  children  took  up  the  quarrel  in  the  commune  school. 

Neither  side  would  yield  an  inch  to  the  other,  while, 
after  several  weeks  of  this  enforced  idleness,  the  majority 
party  seized  the  storehouses,  declaring  that  those  who  would 
not  work  should  not  eat.  For  a  while  the  Cabetists  held 
firm,  but  the  suffering  of  the  women  and  children  finally 
drove  them  to  reluctant  submission.  This  was  made  as 
humiliating  as  possible,  Cabet  and  his  followers  being  con- 
temptuously lined  up  before  the  steps  of  the  phalanstery 
to  receive  their  dole  in  silence.  As  they  turned  away,  one 
of  the  number,  angered  by  a  sneer,  flung  his  bread  upon  the 
ground,  and  trampled  it  into  the  dirt.  The  others  followed 
his  actions  to  a  man,  cursing  the  majority  as  they  did  so. 
No  blood  was  shed,  but  after  this  occurrence  any  reconcilia- 
tion between  the  factions  was  manifestly  impossible. 

The  majority  met  in  secret  council,  burned  their  copies 
of  Cabet's  Icaria,  which  up  to  this  period  had  been  thoir 
creed;  then  a  legal  division  of  the  community  property  was 
decided  upon,  and  Cabet  by  vote  expelled  from  the  com- 
mune. When  he  finally  left  Nauvoo  in  November,  one 
hundred  and  eighty  disciples  accompanied  him  into  exile, 
while  eight  hundred  remained  behind.  A  week  later  he  was 


358  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

smitten  with  apoplexy  while  in  St.  Louis,  and  died  suddenly. 
His  immediate  followers  located  six  miles  below  that  city, 
prospered  for  a  while  as  a  community,  but  later  broke  up 
and  scattered.  The  others,  the  dominant  majority,  had  no 
better  fate  awaiting  them.  Little  by  little  they  drifted  away 
from  fateful  Nauvoo,  which  has  witnessed  so  many  high 
hopes  wither  and  die,  to  a  tract  of  land  owned  by  the  com- 
mune in  Iowa.  Here  their  story  was  one  of  splendid  effort, 
but  utter  failure.  From  the  start  all  was  drudgery,  their 
lives  harsh  and  dull  ;  yet  they  sought  earnestly  to  attain  to 
that  high  ideal  of  socialism  which  had  originally  brought 
them  across  the  seas.  By  1875  they  reached  the  height  of 
their  prosperity,  and  then  a  second  division  occurred,  this 
time  the  younger  members  pitting  themselves  against  the 
elder.  Once  more  the  colony  was  rent  asunder,  most  of  the 
younger  people  drifting  to  California,  the  others  still  cling- 
ing in  pathetic  loyalty  to  their  old  Icaria.  Year  by  year 
they  became  fewer,  less  enthusiastic,  seeking  no  longer  to 
win  new  recruits  to  their  theories  of  life.  They  had  no  cause 
left  to  champion,  and  the  end  was  not  far  off.  By  1895  the 
last  vestige  of  the  great  Icarian  movement  had  perished. 
As  the  writer  above  quoted  aptly  says,  "  Perhaps  no  other 
reform  has  so  stirred  a  continent  at  its  beginning,  only  to 
sink  without  a  ripple  at  its  end." 


CHAPTER  XXV 
HUMORS   OF   THE    FRONTIER 

fARONTIER  humor  is  quite  apt  to  prove  of  the  bois- 
A  terous  kind,  finding  its  more  common  expression  in 
rude  practical  joking  and  horse-play.  The  virtues  of  the 
border  are  Homeric,  the  sports  rough,  the  play  coarse  and 
somewhat  animal.  Refinement  seldom  dwells  between  log 
walls,  and  those  who  invade  new  lands,  fronting  daily  peril, 
and  breasting  the  hardships  of  a  wilderness  they  must  con- 
quer, have  little  time  to  waste  on  the  small  amenities  of  life. 
They  meet  things  in  the  rough,  and  the  seriousness  of  their 
environment  inevitably  stamps  itself  on  countenance  and 
manner.  In  those  rare  times  when  neighbors  congregated 
together,  border  sports  were  entered  upon  with  zest,  wres- 
tling, rifle-shooting,  or  horse-racing  being  the  chosen  order 
of  the  day,  and  proud  indeed  was  the  sturdy  pioneer  who 
bore  home  with  him  some  memento  of  prowess  from  such 
hard-fought  fields.  These  were  likewise  the  sports  of  the 
volunteer  soldiery,  and  every  house-raising,  or  gathering  of 
neighbors  for  any  purpose,  was  certain  to  witness  some  test 
of  physical  strength. 

Yet  in  numerous  ways,  along  the  rather  devious  course 
of  Illinois  history,  there  crops  out  an  innate  sense  of  humor, 
sufficient  to  awaken  smiles  even  now  as  we  contemplate 
those  happenings  of  the  long  ago.  Historians  are  not  often 
humorists,  yet  the  pages  of  those  who  have  told  in  all  seri- 
ousness the  earlier  story  of  the  State  have  sketched  here  and 
there  scenes,  incidents,  and  characteristics  which  tend  to 
relieve  the  sombreness  of  border  struggle,  reminding  us  anew 
that  the  names  we  read  belonged  to  living  men,  as  human 

359 


360  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

in  their  time  as  are  we  to-day.  Politics  and  political  con- 
troversy, always  intensely  interesting  in  a  new  land,  furnish 
many  glimpses  of  those  strenuous  times.  Political  cam- 
paigns were  intensely  personal,  the  questions  of  public  policy 
involved,  if  any  there  were,  being  relegated  to  the  background, 
while  voters  selected  their  choice  for  office  from  personal 
like  or  dislike  of  the  candidate.  Whiskey  likewise  figured 
largely  in  results,  and  was  extremely  conspicuous  in  each 
campaign.  Ford  tells  us  gravely  that  in  the  political  battle 
of  1830  William  Kinney,  a  Baptist  preacher,  who  was  a  can- 
didate for  Governor,  made  his  campaign  with  a  Bible  in 
one  pocket  and  a  bottle  of  liquor  in  the  other.  Thus  armed, 
he  was  prepared  for  any  emergency.  Treating  by  can- 
didates for  office  was  in  those  days  an  indispensable  element 
of  success.  In  some  sections  the  seeking  politicians  would 
hire  all  the  groceries  at  the  county  seats,  and,  on  certain 
days,  serve  liquor  free  to  all  who  came.  To  such  places 
the  voters  would  swarm,  riding  in  from  their  distant  clear- 
ings to  hear  the  news,  and  frequently  before  night  would  be 
drunken  enough  to  engage  in  many  a  rough-and-tumble 
fight.  If  candidates  were  present,  as  was  usually  the  case, 
speeches  were  certain  to  be  made,  the  ambitious  orators 
mounting  on  convenient  wagons,  logs,  or  tree  trunks,  ad- 
vocating at  length,  and  with  much  fervid  eloquence,  their 
claims  to  office.  The  "  vital  questions  of  the  day  "  dis- 
cussed at  such  backwoods  meetings  were  seldom  measures, 
but  generally  men,  and  the  speeches  consisted  in  bitter  per- 
sonal arraignment  of  opponents.  The  more  intemperate 
the  language  employed,  the  better  pleased  were  the  crowd, 
the  greater  the  influence  of  the  orator.  When  this  was  over, 
inflamed  by  passion  and  liquor,  the  gathering  would  dis- 
perse on  their  horses,  galloping  through  the  town,  reeling, 
huzzahing,  and  yelling  for  their  favorite,  or  groaning,  curs- 
ing, and  berating  the  opposition. 

In  early  political  contests,  those  who  were  known  as  the 


HUMORS  OF  THE  FRONTIER  361 

old  pioneers  were  very  much  in  evidence.  Having  been 
first  upon  the  ground,  they  claimed  peculiar  privileges 
for  themselves,  which  were  usually  granted.  This  found 
illustration  in  other  matters  as  well.  Judge  Blackwell 
relates  a  professional  call  which  one  of  this  class  once  paid 
to  him.  In  the  older  days,  bee-trees  were  held  as  common 
property,  the  finder  cutting  one  down  and  appropriating  the 
honey,  irrespective  of  boundary  lines.  As  settlements  grew, 
however,  this  rather  lawless  privilege  had  to  be  curtailed, 
and  consequently  this  particular  pioneer  was  being  pro- 
ceeded against  for  trespass  by  a  neighbor  whose  property 
had  been  thus  tampered  with.  Blackwell  told  him  the  law, 
and  advised  an  attempt  at  compromise,  but  the  indignant 
old  fellow  stomped  out  of  the  office,  declaring, "  This  country 
is  getting  too  damned  civilized  for  me;  I'll  make  tracks  fer 
Oregon,  where  the  old  pioneer  kin  git  justice."  Unfor- 
tunately, in  politics,  as  in  much  else,  ignorance  and  prejudice 
largely  ruled  this  class,  and  they  bitterly  opposed  every 
public  policy  which  tended  toward  a  betterment  of  con- 
ditions ;  nor  were  their  immediate  descendants  much  im- 
provement over  the  original  stock.  As  a  rule,  they  were 
prone  to  brawling,  loud-mouthed,  and  quarrelsome.  They 
arrayed  themselves  conspicuously  in  buckskin  breeches, 
leather  moccasins,  raccoon  caps,  and  red  hunting-shirts 
belted  at  the  waist,  in  which  they  carried  a  huge  knife, 
which  gave  them  the  popular  name  of  "  butcher  boys." 
Profane  and  rough  when  in  liquor,  they  would  swagger 
through  a  crowd,  loudly  proclaiming  themselves  "  half- 
horse,  half-alligator,"  and  seeking  to  provoke  a  quarrel. 

Such  citizens  were  not  likely  to  vote  into  office  a  very 
high  grade  of  manhood,  and  as  a  result,  many  of  the  earlier 
legislators  were  little  worthy  of  honor.  The  interests  of  the 
people  received  slight  consideration,  while  all  manner  of  com- 
binations were  formed  for  the  parcelling  out  of  fat  jobs  for 
personal  benefit.  Governor  Ford  describes  Samuel  Crozier, 


362  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Senator  from  Randolph,  as  "  a  remarkable  example  of 
pure,  kind,  and  simple-hearted  honesty";  then  he  tells  us 
that  after  serving  two  sessions,  and  after  he  had  been  bought 
and  sold  a  hundred  times  without  even  knowing  it,  the  old 
Senator  said  that  he  "  really  did  believe  that  some  intrigue 
had  been  going  on."  From  top  to  bottom,  corruption 
was  the  rule.  And  in  the  elections  the  "  butcher  boys  " 
held  for  a  long  while  the  balance  of  power  throughout  the 
settlements.  When  the  knife  became  finally  tabooed  as  an 
article  of  dress,  the  same  class  of  voters  held  on  in  other 
forms.  They  became  known  as  "  the  barefooted  boys," 
the  "  flat-footed  boys,"  or  the  "  huge-pawed  boys,"  names 
with  which  they  were  greatly  tickled  ;  and  their  influence 
continued  so  long  as  physical  force  dominated  the  polls. 

In  the  courts,  the  judges,  even  those  of  the  Supreme 
bench,  were  not  appointed  because  of  any  superior  legal 
acumen.  Indeed,  few  possessed  even  a  rudimentary  knowl- 
edge of  the  law,  and  some  were  not,  like  Caesar's  wife, 
above  suspicion.  For  instance,  Foster,  who  was  named 
as  one  of  the  Supreme  judges,  resigned  within  a  year.  He 
was,  in  the  language  of  Ford, — 

"  Almost  a  total  stranger  in  the  country.  He  was  a  great 
rascal,  but  no  one  knew  it  then,  he  having  been  a  citizen  of  the 
State  only  for  about  three  weeks  before  he  was  elected.  He  was  no 
lawyer,  never  having  either  studied  or  practised  law ;  but  a  man  of 
winning,  polished  manners,  and  withal  a  gentlemanly  swindler  from 
some  part  of  Virginia.  He  was  believed  to  be  a  clever  fellow  in 
the  American  sense  of  that  phrase,  and  a  good-hearted  soul.  He 
was  assigned  to  hold  courts  on  the  circuit  of  the  Wabash ;  but, 
being  fearful  of  exposing  his  utter  incompetency,  he  never  went 
near  any  of  them.  In  the  course  of  one  year  he  resigned  his  high 
office,  but  took  care  to  pocket  his  salary,  and  then  removed  out  of 
the  State." 

Governor  Reynolds  tells,  with  considerable  humor,  how 
he  chanced  to  be  selected  as  a  member  of  that  same  exalted 


HUMORS  OF  THE  FRONTIER  363 

tribunal.  At  the  time  he  resided  at  Cahokia,  and  had  no 
intention  of  visiting  the  session  of  the  legislature,  which 
was  disposing  of  so  many  fat  offices  while  first  organizing 
the  State  government.  He  wanted  nothing,  and  had  no 
axe  to  grind  for  anyone  else.  But,  being  urged  by  friends, 
he  went  along  with  them  on  a  visit  to  Kaskaskia.  Upon 
arrival  they  found  much  excitement  and  commotion 
at  the  capital,  incident  to  the  selection  of  the  new  State 
officials.  A  few  days  later,  unsolicited,  he  was  being 
strongly  urged  to  become  a  candidate  for  Supreme  Judge. 
The  request  was  a  surprise,  but  at  last  consenting,  he  was 
immediately  chosen.  His  sole  experience  in  law,  as  he  put  it, 
was  four  years'  practice  of  "commerce  in  land."  "I  spec- 
ulated, sold  land,  and  bought  two  stores  of  dry-goods, 
amounting  to  $10,000."  His  first  term  of  court  was  to  him 
a  "strange  and  novel  business."  This  chanced  to  be  held 
at  Covington,  Washington  County,  in  the  midst  of  many 
old  acquaintances,  some  of  whom  had  been  comrades  in 
the  Rangers.  These  lads  failed  utterly  to  appreciate  his 
present  dignity.  The  sheriff,  unmindful  of  the  exaltation 
of  his  old  companion  in  arms,  made  proclamation  of  the 
fact  of  his  presence  without  rising  from  the  rude  bench 
which  he  occupied  astride,  saying  in  familiar  tones,  "  Boys, 
the  Court  is  now  open;  John  is  on  the  bench." 

Even  the  religious  gatherings  of  the  frontier  were  often 
tinged  with  humor  and  afflicted  by  the  practical  joke. 
Camp-meetings  were  not  infrequently  resorted  to  by  the 
younger  people  as  a  species  of  enjoyable  picnic.  An  early 
historian  tells  of  a  happening,  in  which  he  may  have  been 
concerned,  ludicrous  enough  to  deserve  mention.  A  party 
of  fervent  Methodists,  under  the  preaching  of  their  class 
leaders,  were  in  the  midst  of  a  protracted  meeting  in  one 
of  the  small  cabins  of  the  settlement.  The  subject  under 
consideration  was  the  presence  of  Satan  in  their  midst.  It 
was  night,  and  with  only  a  single  candle  to  light  them,  they 


364  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

were  grouped  in  the  one  room,  the  only  window  being  open. 
Through  this  aperture  some  boys  without  suddenly  flung  a 
black  calf,  which,  bleating  furiously,  overturned  the  candle, 
and  scattered  the  assembled  worshippers.  These  fled,  firmly 
believing  they  had  been  visited  in  person  by  His  Satanic 
Majesty. 

In  those  days,  little  of  ceremony  was  ever  considered 
necessary.  The  courts  were  held  in  log  houses,  or  in  the 
bar-rooms  of  taverns,  fitted  up  temporarily  for  the  purpose. 
The  decision  of  all  questions,  law  as  well  as  fact,  was  com- 
monly left  with  the  juries,  and  the  law  was  oftentimes  very 
rudely  administered.  Brown,  to  illustrate  the  size  of  St. 
Clair  County,  quotes  a  case  occurring  before  a  court  at 
Cahokia  to  recover  the  value  of  a  cow.  Judgment  was  ren- 
dered for  sixteen  dollars,  and  the  case  was  appealed.  The 
adverse  party,  with  his  witnesses,  resided  at  Prairie  du  Chien, 
in  what  is  now  Wisconsin,  four  hundred  miles  away.  The 
sheriff,  who  chanced  to  be  also  an  Indian  trader,  having 
received  a  summons  for  the  party  and  subpoenas  for  the 
witnesses,  fitted  out  a  boat  with  a  suitable  stock  of  goods  for 
the  Indian  trade,  and  started  up  the  river.  Having  served 
his  papers  on  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Prairie 
du  Chien,  he  made  his  return,  charging  mileage  and  service 
for  each,  as  he  had  a  legal  right  to  do;  his  costs,  and  the 
costs  of  the  suit,  are  said  to  have  exceeded  nine  hundred 
dollars.  Whether  ever  collected  or  not,  history  does  not 
record,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  the  sheriff  lost  no  money.  Gover- 
nor Reynolds  relates  a  case  occurring  in  the  court  of  Prairie 
du  Rocher,  conducted  against  a  negro  who  was  charged 
with  the  "  murder  "  of  a  hog.  The  case  was  really  one  of 
malicious  mischief,  for  wantonly  destroying  a  useful  animal, 
but  in  the  absence  of  a  prosecuting  attorney,  the  grand  jury, 
groping  about  blindly  in  the  law  books  furnished  them, 
met  with  the  precedent  of  an  indictment  for  murder,  and 
promptly  applied  it  to  the  case  in  hand.  It  may  be  possible 


HUMORS  OF  THE  FRONTIER  365 

that  righteous  judgment  was  accorded  the  unfortunate 
colored  brother  under  these  circumstances,  but  he  ran  a  risk 
not  pleasant  to  contemplate. 

Ford,  in  referring  to  the  disinclination  of  judges  un- 
learned in  the  law  to  instruct  juries  in  their  courts,  mentions 
one  who  would  always  rub  his  head  and  the  side  of  his  face 
with  his  hand,  as  if  perplexed,  and  say,  "  Why,  gentlemen, 
the  jury  understand  the  case  ;  they  need  no  instructions  ; 
no  doubt  they  will  do  justice  between  the  parties."  This 
same  judge  presided  at  a  time  when  a  fellow  named  Green 
was  convicted  of  murder,  and  it  became  his  unpleasant  duty 
to  pronounce  sentence  of  death  on  the  prisoner.  He  called 
the  culprit  before  him,  and  said:  "  Mr.  Green,  the  jury  in 
their  verdict  say  you  are  guilty  of  murder,  and  the  law  says 
you  are  to  be  hung.  Now,  I  want  you,  and  all  your  friends 
down  on  Indian  Creek,  to  know  that  it  is  not  I  who  con- 
demns you,  but  it  is  the  jury  and  the  law.  Mr.  Green,  the 
law  allows  you  time  for  preparation,  and  so  the  Court  wants 
to  know  what  time  you  would  like  to  be  hung."  To  this 
kind  request  the  prisoner  replied,  "  May  it  please  the  Court, 
I  am  ready  at  any  time  ;  those  who  kill  the  body  have  no 
power  to  kill  the  soul;  my  preparation  is  made,  and  I  am 
ready  to  suffer  at  any  time  the  Court  may  appoint."  The 
judge  then  said,  "  Mr.  Green,  you  must  know  that  it  is  a 
very  serious  matter  to  be  hung  ;  it  can't  happen  to  a  man 
more  than  once  in  his  life,  and  you  had  better  take  all  the 
time  you  can  get  ;  the  Court  will  give  you  until  this  day 
four  weeks.  Mr.  Clerk,  look  at  the  almanac,  and  see 
whether  this  day  four  weeks  comes  on  Sunday."  The 
clerk  looked  as  directed,  and  reported  that  that  day  four 
weeks  came  on  Thursday.  The  judge  then  said,  "  Mr. 
Green,  the  Court  gives  you  until  this  day  four  weeks,  at 
which  time  you  are  to  be  hung." 

The  case  was  prosecuted  by  James  Turney,  then  attorney- 
general  of  the  State,  who  here  interposed,  and  said:  "  May 


366  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

it  please  the  Court,  on  solemn  occasions  like  the  present, 
when  the  life  of  a  human  being  is  to  be  sentenced  away  for 
crime,  by  an  earthly  tribunal,  it  is  usual  and  proper  for 
courts  to  pronounce  a  formal  sentence,  in  which  the  lead- 
ing features  of  the  crime  shall  be  brought  to  the  recollection 
of  the  prisoner,  a  sense  of  his  guilt  impressed  upon  his  con- 
science, and  in  which  the  prisoner  should  be  duly  exhorted 
to  repentance,  and  warned  against  the  judgment  in  a  world 
to  come."  To  this  the  judge  replied:  "  O  Mr.  Turney, 
Mr.  Green  understands  the  whole  matter  as  well  as  if  I  had 
preached  to  him  a  month.  He  knows  he  's  got  to  be  hung 
this  day  four  weeks.  You  understand  it  in  that  way,  Mr. 
Green,  don't  you  ?  "  '  Yes,"  returned  the  prisoner;  upon 
which  the  judge  ordered  him  to  be  remanded  to  jail,  and 
the  court  was  adjourned. 

It  is  reported,  however,  that  one,  at  least,  of  these  judges 
of  early  days  was  very  fond  of  instructing  juries,  and  very 
prolix  and  positive  in  his  mode  of  doing  so.  Being  extremely 
ambitious  to  exhibit  his  learning,  on  one  occasion  he  fairly 
outdid  himself,  but  for  some  reason  the  jury  failed  to  agree 
upon  a  verdict.  Called  back  into  the  court-room,  the  judge 
indignantly  questioned  them  as  to  the  cause  of  their  dif- 
ficulty, whereupon  the  foreman  answered  with  great  sim- 
plicity and  honesty,  "  Why,  judge,  this  'ere  is  the  difficulty. 
The  jury  want  to  know  whether  that  'ar  what  you  told  us, 
whin  we  furst  went  out,  was  raly  the  law  'er  whether  it  was 
only  jist  your  notion."  The  judge,  it  is  said,  promptly  and 
emphatically  informed  him  that  it  "  raly  "  was  the  law, 
and  a  verdict  was  found  accordingly. 

The  militia  was  the  cause  of  much  humor  throughout 
the  early  days  of  the  Illinois  country.  Yet,  as  we  read 
now  of  the  requirements,  it  would  seem  to  have  been  no 
laughing  matter.  All  free  white  residents  of  the  State,  be- 
tween eighteen  and  forty-five,  were  held  as  active  members, 
and  duly  enrolled.  They  were  compelled  to  provide  them- 


HUMORS  OF  THE  FRONTIER  367 

selves  with  musket  and  bayonet,  canteen,  two  spare  flints, 
cartridge-box  to  contain  not  less  than  twenty-four  cartridges, 
with  powder  and  ball  suited  to  the  bore  of  their  gun.  To 
be  an  officer  was  an  expensive  luxury,  but  as  this  was  con- 
sidered a  stepping-stone  to  political  preferment,  the  expense 
was  probably  not  often  wasted.  Companies  had  to  muster 
four  times  yearly,  battalions  once  each  year,  and  regiments 
as  often.  Uniformity  in  dress  was  not  always  insisted  upon, 
and  the  ragged  lines  v/ere  often  strangely  and  wonderfully 
attired.  But  the  officers  seldom  failed  to  be  generously 
arrayed,  the  contrast  between  their  magnificent  display  of 
gilt  braid  and  the  tatterdemalion  outfitting  of  their  men 
being  painfully  apparent.  The  military  titles  of  general, 
colonel,  and  major,  which  graced  so  many  public  men  at 
this  period  and  later,  were  usually  of  militia  origin,  and 
possessed  little  significance.  Honors  were  easy  however, 
and  strutting  general  and  dazzling  colonel  were  jocularly 
hailed  as  "  Joe  "  or  "  Sam,"  by  the  good-natured  back- 
woodsmen whom  they  temporarily  commanded.  The  train- 
ing days  were  looked  forward  to  as  a  time  of  frolic  and 
relaxation,  of  gossip  and  political  wire-pulling.  Much  horse- 
play was  indulged  in,  and  generally  an  abundance  of  liquor 
was  in  evidence.  Yet  these  musters  were  no  light  affairs, 
when  one  considers  the  distance  many  were  compelled  to 
travel  to  attend,  and  the  fines  imposed  upon  absentees.  For 
failure  to  be  present,  fines  were  assessed  by  court-martial 
-  for  privates,  fifty  cents  to  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents, 
and  so  on  up  the  line  to  two  hundred  dollars  for  comman- 
ders of  divisions.  Fathers  were  held  liable  for  fines  imposed 
on  minor  sons,  guardians  for  their  wards,  masters  for  their 
apprentices.  Quakers,  Dunkards,  and  other  religious  per- 
sons conscientiously  scrupulous  against  bearing  arms,  were 
relieved  by  paying  three  dollars  each. 

In  the  early  days  the  need  of  militia  organization  was 
so   apparent,   and   the    muster   had   so    many   features   of 


368  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

enjoyment  and  sport  connected  with  it,  as  to  be  almost  popu- 
lar, but  in  later  years  it  became  abhorred.  Shafts  of  wit  and 
ridicule  finally  drove  the  old  system  from  the  State;  some 
of  the  means  used  to  attain  this  end  may  be  gleaned  from 
a  speech  made  by  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  review  of  those 
times.  He  said  : 

"  A  number  of  years  ago  the  militia  laws  of  this  State  required 
that  the  militia  should  train  at  stated  intervals.  These  trainings 
became  a  great  bore  to  the  people,  and  every  person  nearly  was  for 
putting  them  down ;  but  the  law  required  them  to  train,  and  they 
could  not  get  it  repealed.  So  they  tried  another  way,  and  that  was 
to  burlesque  them.  And  hence  they  elected  old  Tim  Langwell, 
the  greatest  drunkard  and  blackguard,  for  Colonel,  over  the  best 
men  in  the  country.  But  this  did  not  succeed  altogether.  So  they 
raised  a  company,  and  elected  Gordon  Abrams  as  Commander. 
He  was  dressed  in  peculiar  style,  one  part  of  his  pants  was  of  one 
color  and  material,  and  the  other  different.  He  wore  a  pasteboard 
cap  about  six  feet  long,  resembling  an  inverted  ox-yoke.  The 
shanks  of  his  spurs  were  about  eight  inches  long,  with  rowels  about 
the  circumference  of  common  saucers.  He  carried  a  sword  made 
of  pine  wood  nine  feet  long.  They  also  had  rules  and  regulations, 
one  of  which  was,  '  That  no  officer  should  wear  more  than  twenty 
pounds  of  codfish  for  epaulets,  nor  more  than  thirty  pounds  of 
Bologna  sausage  for  a  sash ' ;  and  on  the  banner  were  borne  aloft 
these  words  :  c  We  '11  fight  till  we  run,  and  run  till  we  die.'  This 
succeeded  to  a  demonstration.  They  were  the  last  company  that 
trained  in  Springfield." 

Along  about  1836  Western  humor  turned  to  money- 
making,  and  as  subsequently  explained,  the  joke  was  plainly 
on  the  East.  It  culminated  in  the  great  town-lot  craze, 
which  spread  like  wildfire  the  full  length  and  breadth  of 
Illinois.  Chicago  started  the  boom,  and  so  profited  by 
the  early  experiment  that  in  a  year  or  two  it  changed  from 
a  village  of  a  few  houses  to  an  ambitious  city  of  several 
thousand  inhabitants.  The  story  of  the  sudden  fortunes 
made  there  during  this  rise  in  land  values  excited  at  first 


HUMORS  OF  THE  FRONTIER  369 

wonder  and  amazement  ;  then  it  aroused  a  gambling  spirit 
of  adventure.  Town  after  town  took  up  the  scheme  eagerly, 
each  advertising  its  rare  attractions  throughout  the  East, 
and  disposing  of  town  lots  at  fabulous  prices.  Chicago  be- 
came a  great  market  for  the  sale  of  these  lots,  the  plats  of 
towns  projected  for  hundreds  of  miles  around  being  taken 
there  and  sold  at  auction.  The  Eastern  people  caught  the 
mania,  and  Illinois  supplied  the  goods.  Town  lots  became 
a  staple,  and  almost  the  only  articles  of  export.  Vessels 
came  to  Chicago  loaded  with  money  and  eager  investors, 
and  returned  East  crowded  with  town  lots.  New  towns  were 
laid  out  in  every  direction  to  meet  the  insatiate  demand ; 
towns  in  impassable  marshes,  and  towns  in  the  heart  of 
solemn  woods.  Stakes  of  surveyoio  whitened  the  unbroken 
plains  where  wolves  howled  and  bears  roamed  undisturbed, 
and  the  bounds  therein  fixed  were  industriously  hawked  by 
golden-tongued  salesmen  in  New  York  and  Boston.  We 
have  now  before  us  a  gorgeous  picture  of  a  young  city,  with 
buildings  fair  to  look  upon,  nestled  by  the  side  of  a  broad 
stream  alive  with  laden  steamboats,  leading  up  from  the 
crowded  wharf  bustling  with  commercial  activity.  One 
could  hardly  look  at  it  without  an  overmastering  desire  to 
invest.  It  comes  as  a  shock  to  discover  that  this  marvel- 
lous Western  scene  of  bustling  business  activity  is  named 
Wethersfield,  Henry  County,  Illinois.  To  suddenly  awak- 
ened memory  the  great  business  blocks  fade  away  into  a 
single  one-story  country  store,  the  palatial  residences  into 
a  dozen  log  cabins,  the  magnificent  river  into  a  babbling 
brook  to  be  taken  at  a  stride,  the  swarms  of  busy  people 
into  a  single  pioneer  wearily  following  his  plough  through  the 
black  furrow.  For  such  was  the  real  Wethersfield,  widely 
separated  from  this  iridescent  dream  engendered  to  deprive 
the  East  of  hard-earned  dollars. 

Yet  in  this  matter  Wethersfield  was  no  worse  than  all  her 
neighbors,  this   ancient  picture   but   typical  of   what  was 


370  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

happening  to  every  town  throughout  the  Illinois  country  in 
those  "  boom  "  days,  and  to  many  a  bit  of  dull  prairie  yet 
vacant  and  desolate.  But  it  brought  money  into  the  country, 
and  very  soon  Eastern  speculators  were  fairly  loaded  down 
with  vast  tracts  of  unproductive  real  estate.  And  then 
Illinois  humor  again  asserted  itself  to  make  these  non- 
resident owners  aid  still  further  in  the  development  of  the 
State.  An  increase  of  taxes  was  the  weapon  used,  the  land 
thus  being  burdened  so  as  to  awaken  in  the  capitalist  a 
fervent  desire  to  sell  cheap.  The  war  raged  fiercely  for 
several  years  between  the  actual  settler  and  the  non-resident, 
until  finally  matters  adjusted  themselves.  Timber  was  then 
considered  free  plunder  to  be  cut  and  used  by  any  comer, 
and  non-resident  owners  brought  suits  for  damages  in  vain 
-  no  Illinois  jury  would  convict.  Finally,  a  unique  remedy 
was  conceived,  and  ministers  of  the  gospel  were  employed 
to  go  out  and  preach  to  the  unregenerated  people  against 
the  special  sin  of  stealing  timber.  Each  preacher  had  a 
circuit  to  preach  in,  and  was  paid  by  the  sermon.  It  has 
never  been  recorded  whether  or  not  this  experiment  proved 
a  success. 

Money,  or  rather  the  lack  of  it,  is  ever  a  source  of  trouble 
in  a  new  country.  Illinois  suffered  for  years,  coming  grad- 
ually up  from  a  currency  of  fox-skins  to  the  soundness  of 
gold  and  silver.  Along  the  way  many  an  expensive  experi- 
ment was  tried,  and  many  a  financial  mistake  recorded. 
Banks  were  chartered,  and  failed;  substitutes  for  money 
were  devised  and  circulated,  only  to  leave  the  unfortunate 
possessors  worse  off  than  before;  while  the  harassed  Gov- 
ernment floundered  along  oftentimes  on  the  very  verge  of 
repudiation.  In  one  such  emergency,  issues  were  made  bear- 
ing two  per  cent  annual  interest,  and  redeemable  by  the  State 
at  the  expiration  of  ten  years.  This,  in  fact,  constituted 
them  bills  of  credit,  and  it  was  confidently  believed  that  they 
would  keep  at  par  with  gold  and  silver,  and  our  delegation 


HUMORS  OF  THE  FRONTIER  371 

in  Congress  as  gravely  instructed  to  use  their  utmost  exer- 
tion to  have  these  made  receivable  at  the  land-office  within 
the  State.  When  this  resolution  was  put  to  a  vote  in  the 
Senate,  the  old  French  lieutenant-governor,  Colonel  Menard, 
presiding  over  that  body,  put  it  to  a  vote  as  follows : 
"  Gentlemen  ov  de  Senate,  it  is  moved  and  seconded  dat  de 
notes  ov  dis  bank  [the  State  Bank  of  Illinois]  be  made  land- 
office  money.  All  in  favor  ovdat  motion  say  *  aye  ';  all  against 
it  say  '  no.'  It  is  decided  in  de  affirmative.  And  now,  gen- 
tlemen, I  bet  you  one  hundred  dollars  he  never  be  made 
land-office  money." 

Outside  of  political  meetings,  already  mentioned,  the 
important  events  of  frontier  settlements  were  weddings  and 
house-warmings.  Henry  Howe  has  left  us  a  graphic  picture 
of  such  occasions.  For  a  long  time  after  the  first  settlement 
of  this  country,  the  inhabitants  in  general  married  young. 
There  was  no  distinction  of  rank,  and  very  little  of  fortune. 
On  these  accounts  the  first  impression  of  love  resulted  in 
marriage,  as  a  family  establishment  cost  only  a  little  labor, 
and  nothing  else.  A  wedding  engaged  the  attention  of  a 
whole  neighborhood;  and  the  frolic  was  anticipated  by  old 
and  young  with  eager  expectation.  This  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at,  when  it  is  told  that  a  wedding  was  almost  the  only 
gathering  which  was  not  accompanied  with  the  labor  of 
reaping,  log-rolling,  building  a  cabin,  or  planning  some 
scout  or  campaign.  On  the  morning  of  the  wedding-day, 
the  groom  and  his  attendants  assembled  at  the  house  of  his 
father,  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  the  mansion  of  his  bride 
by  noon,  the  usual  time  for  celebrating  the  nuptials,  which 
must  take  place  before  dinner. 

Says  the  writer  above  mentioned : 

"  Let  the  reader  imagine  an  assemblage  of  people,  without  a 
store,  tailor,  or  mantua-maker  within  a  hundred  miles;  and  an 
assemblage  of  horses,  without  a  blacksmith  or  saddler  within  an 
equal  distance, —  the  gentlemen  dressed  in  shoe-packs,  moccasins, 


372  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

leather  breeches,  leggins,  linsey  hunting-shirts,  and  all  home-made; 
the  ladies  dressed  in  linsey  petticoats,  and  linsey  or  linen  bed-gowns, 
coarse  shoes,  stockings,  handkerchiefs,  and  buckskin  gloves,  if  any. 
If  there  were  any  buckles,  rings,  buttons,  or  ruffles,  they  were  the 
relics  of  old  times, —  family  pieces,  from  parents  or  grandparents. 
The  horses  were  caparisoned  with  old  saddles,  old  bridles  or  halters, 
and  pack-saddles  with  a  bag  or  blanket  thrown  over  them ;  a  rope 
or  string  as  often  constituted  the  girth,  as  a  piece  of  leather. 

"  The  march,  in  double  file,  was  often  interrupted  by  the 
narrowness  and  obstructions  of  our  horse-paths,  as  they  were  called, 
for  we  had  no  roads ;  and  these  difficulties  were  often  increased, 
sometimes  by  the  good,  and  sometimes  by  the  ill  will  of  neighbors, 
by  felling  trees,  and  tying  grape-vines  across  the  way.  Sometimes 
an  ambuscade  was  formed  by  the  wayside,  and  unexpected  discharge 
of  several  guns  took  place,  so  as  to  cover  the  wedding-party  with 
smoke. 

"  Another  ceremony  commonly  took  place  before  the  party 
reached  the  house  of  the  bride,  after  the  practice  of  making 
whiskey  began,  which  was  at  an  early  period  :  when  the  party 
were  about  a  mile  from  the  place  of  their  destination,  two  young 
men  would  single  out  to  run  for  the  bottle ;  the  worse  the  path, 
the  more  logs,  brush,  and  deep  hollows,  the  better,  as  these 
obstacles  afforded  an  opportunity  for  the  greater  display  of  intrepid- 
ity and  horsemanship.  The  English  fox-chase,  in  point  of  danger 
to  the  riders  and  their  horses,  is  nothing  to  this  race  for  the  bottle. 
The  start  was  announced  by  an  Indian  yell ;  logs,  brush,  muddy 
hollows,  hill  and  glen,  were  speedily  passed  by  the  rival  ponies. 
The  bottle  was  always  filled  for  the  occasion,  so  that  there  was  no 
use  for  judges,  for  the  first  who  reached  the  door  was  presented 
with  the  prize,  with  which  he  returned  in  triumph  to  the  company. 
On  approaching  them,  he  announced  his  victory  over  his  rival  by  a 
shrill  whoop.  At  the  head  of  the  troop,  he  gave  the  bottle  first 
to  the  groom  and  his  attendants,  and  then  to  each  pair  in  succession 
to  the  rear  of  the  line,  giving  each  a  dram,  and  then  putting  the 
bottle  in  the  bosom  of  his  hunting-shirt,  took  his  station  in  the 
company." 


HUMORS  OF  THE  FRONTIER  373 

On  returning,  the  same  order  of  procession  was  followed. 
The  feasting  and  dancing  lasted  for  days,  at  the  end  of  which 
the  whole  company  were  so  exhausted  as  to  be  unfit  for  their 
ordinary  duties. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
SOME    NOTABLE    BORDER    CHARACTERS 

ONE  tendency  of  frontier  life  is  to  develop  into  more 
vivid  contrast  the  strong  and  weak  points  of  character. 
The  restraints  of  civilization  do  not  retard,  nor  greatly  con- 
ceal, the  exhibition  of  peculiarities,  and  rugged  natures  stand 
forth  unpolished.  Sham  is  despised,  frankness  admired,  and 
no  reason  exists  why  anyone  should  appear  other  than  he 
really  is.  The  Illinois  country  was  rich  in  this  respect,  and 
many  a  true  man  and  noble  woman  bore  portion  in  those 
rough  years  of  development,  stamping  their  own  individ- 
ualities forever  on  the  character  of  the  State,  and  sending 
the  thread  of  their  personal  influence  down  to  future  gen- 
erations. Only  very  few  of  these  can  find  mention  here, 
nor  can  such  hasty  sketches  ever  do  slightest  justice  even  to 
those  few.  All  to  be  hoped  is,  that  through  such  dim  pictures 
the  reader  may  discern  real  men  and  women,  and  realize  that 
history  in  its  better  purpose  is  but  a  record  of  individual 
ideals  and  labor.  These  old-time  Illinoisans  lived  and  hoped, 
worked,  loved,  sorrowed,  and  passed  away,  separate  and 
peculiar  entities,  even  as  we  are  now,  and  their  lives  were 
merged  into  the  vaster  life  of  the  State  we  love. 

In  the  earlier  history  the  memory  of  three  women,  who 
were  in  few  ways  similar,  arises  into  peculiar  prominence, 
each  occupying  a  niche  entirely  her  own,  but  all  alike  worthy 
of  reverence  for  true  womanliness.  These  three  were  Mme. 
Le  Comte,  Mrs.  John  Edgar,  and  Mrs.  Robert  Morrison, 
residents  of  Kaskaskia.  They  left  indelible  impress  on  the 
period  of  their  existence,  and  a  brief  record  of  their  lives  has 
been  preserved  in  Davidson  and  Stuve's  History  of  the 

374 


SOME  NOTABLE  BORDER   CHARACTERS       375 

State,  gathered  from  the  personal  recollections  of  Governor 
Reynolds  and  others. 

Mme.  Le  Comte  was  born  of  French  parents  at  the  old 
trading-station  on  the  St.  Joseph  River,  in  Michigan,  about 
the  year  1734.  Her  maiden  name  has  not  been  preserved, 
nor  do  we  possess  any  details  relating  to  her  earlier  life  or 
education.  Undoubtedly,  the  latter  was  very  slight,  proba- 
bly no  more  than  the  merest  rudiments  picked  up  from  the 
station  priest,  although  she  later  moved  in  the  highest  society 
of  Kaskaskia,  and  had  every  appearance  of  refinement  and 
gentility.  Her  early  home  was  in  the  midst  of  the  Pottawat- 
tomie  Indians,  and  from  that  date  until  the  day  of  her  death 
she  remained  both  friend  and  adviser  to  the  red  tribes  of 
Illinois.  She  became  proficient  in  their  languages,  and 
gained  a  deep  insight  into  their  native  character,  exercising 
a  remarkable  influence  over  them.  She  was  married  at 
Mackinaw  to  a  fur  trader  whose  name  was  either  St.  Ange 
or  Pelate,  and  moved  to  Chicago,  later  going  down  the  Illi- 
nois and  Mississippi  Rivers  to  Cahokia.  Here,  her  husband 
dying,  she  was  married  to  M.  Le  Comte,  a  Canadian  having 
some  property.  From  this  marriage  sprang  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  influential  French  families  in  the  early 
Illinois  country.  Much  later  in  life,  after  the  death  of  Le 
Comte,  she  contracted  a  third  marriage,  this  time  with  that 
Thomas  Brady  known  in  border  history  for  his  unfortunate 
marauding  expedition  against  Fort  St.  Joseph  in  1778. 

Mme.  Le  Comte,  for  so  she  was  called  throughout  the 
Illinois  country  to  the  day  of  her  death,  was  in  many  re- 
spects a  typical  French  woman  of  the  frontier,  but  of  the 
highest  grade.  She  was  possessed  of  an  iron  constitution, 
a  strong  mind,  and  dauntless  courage.  In  person  she  was 
remarkably  attractive,  her  manner  winning,  possessing  all 
the  geniality  of  the  French  nature.  She  travelled  much  in 
frontier  fashion,  and  underwent  great  exposure  to  inclem- 
ency of  weather,  yet  scarcely  knew  what  sickness  meant. 


376  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Accustomed  to  it  from  childhood,  she  lived  a  hardy  and  fru- 
gal life.  Among  the  Indians  her  influence  was  so  remarkable 
as  to  be  almost  unique  in  border  history.  No  official  in 
French  authority  ever  wielded  such  power  for  good  or  ill 
over  the  savages  of  the  Illinois  as  did  this  rosy-cheeked, 
black-eyed  Frenchwoman.  And  she  used  this  power  to 
good  account  for  the  benefit  of  the  settlements.  Clearly  as 
this  was  proven  previously,  it  became  more  and  more  evident 
after  the  conquest  by  Clark.  That  occurrence  led  to  a 
breach  between  the  Illinois  French  and  their  Indian  neigh- 
bors, which  was  never  healed  —  the  former  sided  with  the 
Americans,  while  the  latter  ranged  themselves  unreservedly 
upon  the  British  side.  The  long  peace  of  years  was  broken, 
and  many  a  meditated  attack  on  Cahokia  did  Mme.  Le 
Comte  frustrate  by  rare  sagacity  and  friendly  counsel.  It 
is  said,  that  so  infatuated  with  her  were  the  savages,  they 
would  invariably  advise  her  of  their  intended  attack  on  the 
village.  It  was  at  such  times  the  intrepid  heroism  of  the 
woman  became  evident.  Alone,  and  in  the  night,  she  would 
go  forth  to  meet  the  frenzied  warriors,  riding  straight  across 
country  to  their  hostile  camps  at  the  Quintin  Mound,  or  the 
foot  of  the  bluffs,  or  wherever  it  might  be.  At  times  she  re- 
mained with  them  for  days  together,  pleading  for  the  safety 
of  her  village,  counselling  peace,  and  appeasing  the  anger 
of  the  savages.  Nor  did  she  cease  until  her  cause  was  won. 
Many  a  time  did  she  return  home  followed  by  a  long  train 
of  warriors  changed  from  bloodthirsty  enemies  to  quiet 
friends.  Mme.  Le  Comte  lived  at  Cahokia  to  the  extreme 
age  of  a  hundred  and  four,  honored,  respected,  and  loved  by 
all  who  knew  her,  and  to  the  last  a  power  for  good  along 
the  border. 

The  second  of  this  trio  of  notable  frontier  women  was 
Mrs.  John  Edgar,  of  Kaskaskia.  Her  sphere  of  influence 
was  utterly  different  from  that  of  Mme.  Le  Comte,  as  was 
her  nationality,  yet  in  some  respects  it  was  wider  and  more 


SOME  NOTABLE  BORDER  CHARACTERS      377 

lasting.  For  many  years  this  brilliant,  accomplished  woman, 
accustomed  to  all  the  refinements  of  polite  society,  reigned 
as  the  acknowledged  queen  of  fashion  in  the  remote  Illinois 
country,  and  presided  with  dignified  grace  over  her  husband's 
magnificent  mansion  at  Kaskaskia.  This  home  was  for 
nearly  half  a  century  the  abode  of  hospitality  and  resort  of 
the  elite.  It  was  within  these  spacious  walls  that  soldiers 
and  governors  met  in  social  gayety,  and  here  the  Marquis 
de  La  Fayette  was  entertained  in  1825  with  a  banquet  and 
ball.  Nor  do  social  honors  alone  crown  Mrs.  Edgar's  mem- 
ory; as  an  American  patriot  she  deserves  immortality.  By 
birth,  education,  and  environment  she  was  an  American,  but 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolutionary  War  her  husband  was 
an  officer  in  the  British  navy.  Slowly  she  won  him  over  to 
the  patriot  cause,  and  at  the  same  time  originated  a  wide 
plan  for  encouraging  the  desertion  of  British  soldiers.  In 
this  she  was  extremely  active  and  successful,  furnishing  the 
fugitives  with  arms  and  uniforms,  and  guiding  them  to  the 
American  camp.  Some  of  these  runaways  being  captured, 
Mrs.  Edgar  was  exposed  and  her  husband  implicated,  which 
led  to  his  fleeing  the  service,  and  coming  out  openly  upon 
the  patriot  side.  He  served  a  while  in  the  American  army, 
but,  deeming  it  safer  to  seek  greater  seclusion,  came  finally 
to  Kaskaskia.  The  greater  part  of  his  property  was  con- 
fiscated, but  through  the  exertions  of  his  wife,  who  remained 
in  the  East  two  years  longer,  about  twelve  thousand  dollars 
was  safely  secured.  In  Kaskaskia  Edgar  prospered,  and 
for  many  years  they  were  the  most  wealthy  family  in  Illi- 
nois. 

Mrs.  Robert  Morrison  came  to  Kaskaskia  as  a  young 
lady,  unmarried,  finding  her  husband  among  the  young 
merchants  of  that  town.  From  the  first  she  was  a  rare 
acquisition  to  the  society  life  of  the  place,  but  especially 
did  she  uplift  the  ideals  and  intellectual  refinement  of  that 
rough  colony  by  her  remarkable  literary  ability.  This  lady 


378  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

originally  accompanied  her  brother,  Colonel  Donaldson,  to 
St.  Louis  in  1805,  but  Kaskaskia  soon  became  her  permanent 
home.  Well  educated,  full  of  the  joy  of  life,  and  of  great 
energy,  her  mind  was  gifted  with  originality  and  romance. 
Almost  immediately  she  became  the  centre  and  inspiration 
for  a  higher  intellectuality  than  these  remote  regions  had 
previously  known.  Her  charming  home  was  soon  a  gather- 
ing spot  for  a  constantly  growing  coterie  of  brilliant  young 
minds,  destined  to  make  their  marks  on  the  nobler  life  of  the 
new  State.  Her  own  intellectual  gifts  inclined  her  to  cul- 
tivate the  art  of  poetry,  in  which  she  became  proficient, 
producing  many  pieces  of  high  value;  her  prose  contribu- 
tions to  Eastern  publications  were  also  greatly  admired  by 
good  judges  of  literature.  Her  pen,  always  ready,  discussed 
subjects  of  every  conceivable  nature,  not  even  avoiding  the 
political  issues  of  the  day,  regarding  which  she  exercised 
no  inconsiderable  influence.  A  feat  of  much  ingenuity 
was  her  work  of  rendering  the  Psalms  of  David  into  verse. 
In  later  life  this  lady  united  with  the  Catholic  Church, 
and  so  strong  was  her  example,  that  many  others,  unsolic- 
ited, followed  her.  She  became  the  mother  of  a  large 
family,  lived  to  an  advanced  age,  and  died  at  Belleville, 
in  1843. 

Shadrach  Bond,  the  first  delegate  to  Congress,  and  the 
first  Governor  of  the  new  State  of  Illinois,  was  also  among 
the  earlier  Americans  to  settle  permanently  in  this  region, 
but  must  not  be  confused  with  his  uncle,  that  Shadrach 
Bond  who  arrived  in  1782.  While  not  a  great  man  in 
intellectual  breadth,  he  was  still  a  typical  character,  repre- 
senting the  highest  class  of  the  intelligent  pioneers.  Bond 
was  born  in  Frederick  County,  Maryland,  in  1773,  and  was 
raised  a  farmer  on  his  father's  plantation,  enjoying  few 
opportunities  for  education,  yet  early  evincing  a  marked  in- 
clination for  books.  At  twenty-one  years  of  age,  being  one 
of  a  company  of  neighbors,  he  floated  down  the  Ohio,  helped 


SOME  NOTABLE  BORDER  CHARACTERS      379 

to  scull  the  heavy  keel-boat  up  the  Mississippi,  and  finally 
settled  down  to  farming  in  the  American  Bottom,  in  Monroe 
County,  near  Eagle  Creek.  It  was  a  totally  undeveloped 
country,  a  wilderness  on  every  side,  and  there  necessarily 
followed  years  of  hard  struggle  against  both  nature  and 
savagery.  But  Bond  stuck,  and  won  his  battle,  gaining 
constantly  a  wider  and  firmer  influence  over  the  rough 
bordermen.  For  many  years  he  was,  unquestionably,  the 
leading  local  character  in  the  political  life  of  the  new  com- 
monwealth, and  a  conspicuous  figure  in  its  social  affairs. 

Bond,  from  Governor  Ford's  description,  was  a  sub- 
stantial, farmer-like  man,  possessed  of  plain,  strong  common 
sense,  and  a  jovial,  hearty  manner.  He  was  of  a  convivial, 
benevolent  disposition,  and  naturally  a  shrewd  judge  of  men, 
as  well  as  of  the  trend  of  events.  In  person  he  was  erect, 
six  feet  in  height,  and  after  middle  life  he  became  portly, 
weighing  two  hundred  pounds.  His  features  were  strongly 
masculine,  marked  with  character,  and  rugged,  his  eyes 
hazel,  his  hair  jet.  He  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  ladies 
because  of  his  genial  ways  and  love  of  social  gayeties. 
Among  men  he  was  what  is  now  known  as  a  "  good  mixer," 
his  apparent  frankness  of  manner,  thorough  honesty,  and 
unostentatious  intercourse  with  people  of  every  degree  ren- 
dering him  one  of  the  most  widely  known  and  popular 
leaders  of  the  young  settlements.  After  leaving  the  Gov- 
ernor's office,  he  was  appointed  register  of  the  land-office 
at  Kaskaskia,  where  he  lived  quietly  until  his  death  in  1830. 
The  county  of  Bond  perpetuates  his  memory. 

The  first  two  practising  lawyers  in  the  Illinois  country 
are  worthy  of  mention,  not  only  because  of  their  being 
pioneers  in  this  profession,  but  also  on  account  of  their  real 
worth  and  peculiar  characteristics.  For  several  years  fol- 
lowing 1790  the  bar  of  Illinois  consisted  of  but  a  single 
member,  but  he  was  a  host  in  himself.  This  legal  phenom- 
enon was  John  Rice  Jones,  by  nativity  a  Welshman,  born 


380  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

in  1750.  When  he  first  came  to  the  Far  West  is  not  clear, 
but  he  was  certainly  the  earliest  practitioner  in  this  region, 
even  antedating  organized  courts.  He  would  have  proved 
a  remarkable  man  in  any  country,  being  an  accomplished 
linguist,  the  possessor  of  a  good  classical  education,  and  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  legal  theory  and  practice.  His  cir- 
cuit in  earliest  days  extended  from  Kaskaskia  to  Vincennes, 
including  Clarksville  (opposite  what  is  now  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky). The  trip  was  made  on  horseback,  over  dim  trails, 
and  amid  much  hardship  and  exposure,  but  Jones  was  never 
idle,  and  seldom  discouraged  or  disconcerted.  As  a  speaker, 
he  was  the  wonder  and  pride  of  the  frontier,  and  in  moments 
of  excitement  or  anger  his  power  for  invective  was  scathing. 
His  words  stung,  and  his  quick,  nervous  sentences  sunk 
deep.  His  influence  over  a  frontier  jury,  whose  every  char- 
acteristic he  instinctively  understood  and  played  upon  at  will, 
was  said  to  be  irresistible.  At  Vincennes  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  and  in  1807  rendered 
valuable  services  in  revising  the  Indiana  statute  law. 

Unfortunately  for  his  highest  reputation,  Jones  later  be- 
came involved  in  what  may  justly  be  termed  one  of  the  bor- 
der brawls  of  the  period,  which  arose  between  the  American 
settlers  and  their  Spanish  neighbors  across  the  Mississippi. 
A  body  of  men,  organized  without  authority,  but  commanded 
by  George  Rogers  Clark,  commenced  a  series  of  depredations 
on  numerous  Spanish  traders  in  the  Illinois  country,  who 
were  plundered  of  goods  and  merchandise,  in  retaliation  for 
similar  alleged  offences  by  Spaniards  of  Natchez.  In  these 
outrages  Jones  took  a  prominent  part,  acting  as  commissary 
of  the  American  forces,  and  selling  all  stolen  goods  that  were 
found  unsuitable  to  the  uses  of  those  men  engaged.  These 
acts  came  very  near  embroiling  us  in  a  serious  struggle  with 
Spain.  Later,  Jones  removed  to  Missouri,  became  a  member 
of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  and  a  candidate  for  United 
States  Senator  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Benton.  He  held  office 


SOME  NOTABLE  BORDER  CHARACTERS      381 

as  Judge  of  the  Missouri  Supreme  Court  until  his  death  in 
1824.  Wherever  he  went  his  undoubted  ability  and  force 
won  him  immediate  recognition. 

Illinois'  second  lawyer  was  a  man  of  entirely  different 
character,  yet  of  unquestioned  mental  capacity.  This  was 
Isaac  Darnielle.  He  possessed  a  strong  natural  intellect, 
excellent  education,  and  a  fair  knowledge  of  law.  An  easy, 
approachable  manner,  a  portly,  good-natured  appearance, 
coupled  with  an  off-hand  generosity  in  money  matters,  made 
him  extremely  popular  among  the  masses  of  the  people.  As 
a  lawyer  he  met  with  good  success,  and  was  an  agreeable 
speaker,  but  somehow  lacked  the  facility  for  winning  the 
confidence  of  men.  It  was  said  his  early  education  was 
directed  toward  the  ministry,  and  that  he  had  even  spoken 
from  the  pulpit  before  turning  to  the  law  as  being  more  con- 
genial. But  his  great  forte,  if  posterity  does  him  justice, 
must  have  been,  in  the  language  of  another,  "  in  the  court 
of  Venus,  where  he  apparently  practised  with  consummate 
art,  and  with  more  studious  assiduity  than  his  books  ever 
received."  His  reputation  in  this  respect  became  firmly 
established  all  over  the  infant  Territory,  and  however  he 
may  have  failed  in  winning  the  trust  of  men,  he  met  with 
little  difficulty  in  touching  the  hearts  of  women.  He  was 
never  married,  and  yet  seemingly  was  never  without  a  wife, 
and  this  course  of  procedure  brought  its  inevitable  con- 
sequences. While  youth  and  vigor  remained,  all  went  well, 
but  with  advancing  age  Darnielle  was  obliged  to  abandon 
his  profession,  and  finally  died  in  WTestern  Kentucky,  at  the 
age  of  sixty,  an  impoverished  and  neglected  school-teacher. 

Ninian  Edwards,  governor  of  the  Territory,  and  later 
of  the  State,  and  United  States  Senator  from  Illinois,  was 
among  the  most  prominent  Illinoisans  of  those  early  days, 
and  was  a  man  of  exceedingly  fine  talents.  He  was  born 
in  Monroe  County,  Maryland,  in  1775,  an^  was  consequently 
thirty-four  years  old  at  his  first  arrival  at  Kaskaskia.  His 


382  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

education  was  collegiate,  and  at  the  time  of  coming  west 
to  Kentucky,  he  had  already  commenced  the  study  of  law. 
Selecting  lands  in  Nelson  County  on  behalf  of  a  brother  and 
sister,  who  had  sent  him  there  for  that  purpose,  he  acquired 
some  farming  property  of  his  own,  and  remained  to  care 
for  it.  Having  ample  means  to  gratify  every  inclination  in 
such  a  new  country,  and  not  restrained  by  the  influence  of 
society,  the  young  man  drifted  into  dissipation  and  other 
indiscretions.  At  the  end  of  two  years  of  this  wild  life,  young 
Edwards  broke  completely  away  from  his  dissolute  com- 
panions, removed  to  Russellville,  and  at  once  devoted  him- 
self to  laborious  study.  Nothing  in  his  after  life  better 
illustrates  the  sterling  manhood  of  the  man  than  this  firm 
refusal  to  be  permanently  ruined.  Admitted  to  the  bar,  he 
at  once  attained  eminence.  By  the  time  he  was  thirty-two, 
he  had  been  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  Chief  Justice 
of  the  State.  Soon  after,  an  associate  justice  of  this  same 
court,  Boyle,  received  the  appointment  of  Territorial  Gov- 
ernor of  Illinois,  but  did  not  desire  the  position.  It  was 
arranged  between  the  two  that  Edwards  should  have  the 
appointment,  and  Boyle  become  Chief  Justice.  He  arrived 
at  Kaskaskia  in  1809,  and  was  ever  after,  so  long  as  he  lived, 
connected  intimately  with  Illinois,  and  a  prominent  figure 
in  her  political  and  military  history.  For  the  first  nine  years 
he  was  practically  the  entire  source  of  authoritative  power 
throughout  the  wide  Illinois  country,  which  he  ruled  with 
the  aid  of  three  judges  of  his  own  appointment. 

"  Edwards,"  says  Governor  Ford,  "  was  a  large,  well-made 
man,  with  a  noble,  princely  appearance,  never  condescending  to  the 
common  low  arts  of  electioneering.  Whenever  he  went  out 
among  the  people  he  arrayed  himself  in  the  style  of  a  gentleman  of 
the  olden  time,  dressed  in  fine  broadcloth,  with  short  breeches,  long 
stockings,  and  high,  fur-topped  boots;  was  drawn  in  a  fine  carriage 
driven  by  a  negro ;  and  for  success  he  relied  upon  his  speeches, 
which  were  delivered  with  great  pomp,  and  in  a  style  of  diffuse  and 


SOME  NOTABLE  BORDER  CHARACTERS      383 

florid  eloquence.  When  he  was  inaugurated  in  1826,  he  appeared 
before  the  General  Assembly  wearing  a  golden-laced  coat,  and  with 
great  pomp  he  pronounced  his  first  message  to  the  houses  of  the 
legislature.  His  manners  were  always  courtly,  and  he  was  ex- 
tremely pleased  at  making  a  good  social  appearance,  being  ever  a 
special  favorite  among  the  ladies.  Even  in  preparation  for  an 
arduous  Indian  campaign,  his  camp  at  Edwardsville  was  transformed 
into  a  seeming  picnic-ground  by  the  vast  numbers  of  the  gentle  sex 
thronging  thither,  and  the  gay  parties  given  them  by  the  Governor 
and  his  officers.  He  died  of  the  cholera  at  Belleville  in  1833." 

One  of  Governor  Edwards's  opponents  for  that  position 
of  honor  in  the  campaign  of  1826  was  Adolphus  Frederick 
Hubbard,  who  certainly  deserves  mention  here  for  his  very 
oddity.  His  speeches  indicate  the  mental  calibre  of  the  man. 
During  this  struggle  he  once  delivered  himself  as  follows; 
"  Fellow-citizens,  I  offer  myself  as  a  candidate  before  you, 
for  the  office  of  Governor.  I  do  not  pretend  to  be  a  man 
of  extraordinary  talents  ;  nor  do  I  claim  to  be  equal  to 
Julius  Caesar,  or  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  nor  yet  to  be  as  great 
a  man  as  my  opponent,  Governor  Edwards.  Nevertheless 
I  think  I  can  govern  you  pretty  well.  I  do  not  think  that 
it  will  require  a  very  extraordinary  smart  man  to  govern  you; 
for,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  fellow-citizens,  I  do  not  think  you 
will  be  very  hard  to  govern,  nohow."  This  individual  had 
long  before  made  himself  famous  for  odd  speeches,  one  of 
the  most  widely  repeated  being  an  address  delivered  in  the 
legislature  on  a  bill  to  pay  a  bounty  on  wolf-scalps.  It  ran 
thus: 

u  Mr.  Speaker,  I  rise,  before  the  question  is  put  on  this  bill,  to 
say  a  word  for  my  constituents.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  never  seen  a 
wolf.  I  cannot  say  that  I  am  very  well  acquainted  with  the  nature 
and  habits  of  wolves.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  said  that  I  had  never 
seen  a  wolf.  But  now  I  remember  that  once  on  a  time,  as  Judge 
Brown  and  I  were  riding  across  the  Bon  Pas  prairie,  we  looked  over 
the  prairie  about  three  miles,  and  Judge  Brown  said,  l  Hubbard, 
l«»ok !  there  goes  a  wolf ! '  And  I  looked,  and  I  looked,  and  I 


384  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

looked,  and  I  said,  'Judge,  where  ? '  And  he  said  c  There  ' ;  and  I 
looked  again,  and  this  time,  in  the  edge  of  a  hazel  thicket,  about 
three  miles  across  the  prairie,  I  think  I  saw  the  wolf's  tail.  Mr. 
Speaker,  if  I  did  not  see  a  wolf  this  time,  I  think  I  never  saw 
one.  But  I  have  heard  much,  and  read  more,  about  this  animal.  I 
have  studied  his  natural  history.  By  the  by,  history  is  divided  into 
two  parts ;  there  is  first  the  history  of  the  fabulous,  and  secondly  of 
the  nonfabulous,  or  unknown  ages.  Mr.  Speaker,  from  all  these 
sources  of  information,  I  learn  that  the  wolf  is  a  very  noxious  thing 
to  devour ;  that  he  rises  up  in  the  dead  and  secret  hours  of  the 
night,  when  all  nature  reposes  in  silent  oblivion,  and  then  commits 
the  most  terrible  devastations  upon  the  rising  generation  of  hogs 
and  sheep.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  done,  and  return  my  thanks  to  the 
House  for  their  kind  attention  to  my  remarks." 

John  Reynolds,  fourth  Governor  of  Illinois,  was  like- 
wise identified  with  the  earlier  days,  and  was  a  typical  fron- 
tier character  and  politician.  He  stands  forth  peculiarly 
prominent  in  the  annals  of  the  time,  from  having  written 
and  published  an  interesting  but  disconnected  account  of 
his  own  life,  and  a  contemporary  State  history.  He  was  born 
in  Pennsylvania,  in  the  year  1788,  of  Irish  parentage,  and 
reached  Illinois  in  1800.  In  early  manhood  he  travelled 
to  Tennessee  and  attended  school,  receiving,  he  claimed,  a 
"classical  education";  but,  as  Ford  remarks,  "no  one  would 
ever  have  suspected  it  from  either  his  writings  or  speeches." 
This,  however,  may  have  been  merely  an  eccentricity  of  the 
man.  Reared  from  his  earliest  years  among  a  frontier  peo- 
ple, where  he  imbibed  their  peculiarities  of  manner,  customs, 
and  speech,  he  disliked  polish,  despised  fashion,  and  became 
addicted  to  inordinate  profanity.  He  apparently  never 
tried  to  rid  himself  of  these  early  habits,  seeming  rather  to 
be  proud  of  them,  as  thus  evidencing  his  closeness  to  the 
common  people.  Nevertheless,  blunt,  coarse,  rude  as  he 
very  often  was,  this  Americanized  Irishman  possessed  tal- 
ent of  no  mean  order,  and  a  vast  amount  of  shrewdness. 
His  garrulity  made  him  even  more  conspicuous,  and, 


SOME  NOTABLE  BORDER   CHARACTERS       385 

considering  the  high  positions  to  which  he  attained, 
he  may  certainly  be  ranked  among  the  public  oddities  of 
Illinois. 

His  imagination  was  fertile,  his  ideas  poured  forth  re- 
gardless of  logical  sequence,  and  even  of  truth.  In  life,  he 
was  by  turn  farmer,  lawyer,  soldier,  judge,  legislator,  con- 
gressman, and  Governor,  and  in  all  these  varied  positions 
it  is  but  just  to  say  he  achieved  fair  success.  One  knowing 
him  says:  "  Passing  his  entire  life  on  the  frontier,  he  had 
acquired  all  the  by-words,  catchwords,  odd  sayings,  and 
grotesque  figures  of  speech  ever  invented  by  vulgar  ingenuity; 
to  these  he  added  a  copious  supply  of  his  own,  compounding 
all  into  a  language  peculiar  to  himself,  which  he  insisted  on 
using  in  both  public  and  private."  With  a  kind  heart, 
always  ready  to  do  a  favor,  never  harboring  resentment,  it 
was  small  wonder  he  won  and  held  votes,  completely  over- 
whelming the  Baptist  preacher  who  ventured  to  run  against 
him  for  the  highest  office  in  the  State.  In  appearance  we 
are  told  that  Governor  Reynolds  was  "  tall  of  stature,  his 
face  long,  bony,  and  deeply  furrowed,  and  under  his  high, 
narrow  forehead  rolled  his  eyes,  large  and  liquid,  expressive 
of  volubility.  His  nose  projected  well  downward  to  his 
ample  mouth."  Governor  Reynolds  always  sympathized  with 
slavery,  and  in  his  last  days  he  clouded  his  record  by  open 
acts,  almost  amounting  to  treason,  in  his  efforts  to  aid  the 
seceding  South.  He  died  at  Belleville,  in  May,  1865. 

Beyond  Ninian  Edwards,  already  mentioned,  we  must 
content  ourselves  with  brief  mention  of  a  few  of  the  earliest 
United  States  Senators  from  Illinois,  as  being  typical  of  the 
highest  life  of  the  people  represented.  Jesse  B.  Thomas 
was  Edwards's  colleague,  and  served  from  1818  until  1829. 
He  was  at  the  time  of  first  election  a  Federal  judge,  and  had 
borne  himself  with  great  dignity  on  the  bench,  although  re- 
ported to  be  far  from  a  master  at  the  law.  By  nature  a 
politician,  he  possessed  little  talent  as  a  speaker,  but  much 


386  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

skill  as  a  manipulator.  After  retiring  from  the  Senate  he 
attained  to  no  further  honors,  and  died  in  Ohio  about  1853. 

John  McLean,  of  Shawneetown,  elected  to  the  Senate 
in  1824,  to  succeed  Edwards,  was  in  many  respects  the 
most  gifted  man  of  his  period  in  Illinois.  Born  in  North 
Carolina  in  1791,  he  came  to  Shawneetown  as  a  young  law- 
yer of  twenty-three,  and  was  soon  prominent  both  at  the  bar 
and  in  political  life.  Three  years  later,  he  was  elected  to 
Congress  after  a  campaign  strangely  marked  by  courtesy  be- 
tween himself  and  his  opponent,  Daniel  P.  Cook.  Hitherto 
frontier  politics  had  been  fought  with  bitter  personalities. 
He  was  also  frequently  a  member  of  the  legislature,  and 
once  Speaker  of  the  House,  but  never  forgot  to  remain 
a  gentleman,  even  on  the  "  stump."  McLean  was  a  born 
orator,  a  large  man,  finely  proportioned,  with  light  com- 
plexion, and  frank,  open  face.  Men  instinctively  felt  con- 
fidence in  him,  while  his  eloquence  swayed  them  at  his  will. 
His  death,  which  occurred  in  the  very  prime  of  his  manhood, 
at  thirty-nine,  was  considered  a  great  public  loss,  and  the 
legislature,  in  memory  of  his  signal  services,  named  a  county 
of  the  State  in  his  honor. 

Elias  Kent  Kane  served  in  the  Senate  from  1824  until 
the  time  of  his  death  in  1835.  He  was  a  native  of  New 
York,  coming  to  Illinois  as  early  as  1814,  and  was  possessed 
of  purity  of  character,  honesty,  and  benevolent  disposition. 
David  Jewett  Baker  was  a  Senator  from  Illinois  for  a  short 
time  by  appointment  of  the  Governor,  but  failed  of  sanction 
from  the  legislature.  While  a  studious,  painstaking  lawyer, 
he  is  especially  remembered  for  his  active  battle,  both  by 
tongue  and  pen,  against  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the 
State.  He  thus  gained  many  bitter  enemies,  and  was  once 
openly  attacked  on  the  streets  of  Kaskaskia.  His  death 
occurred  at  Alton  in  1869. 

The  first  native  Illinoisan  evef  elevated  to  the  United 
States  Senate  was  Samuel  McRoberts.  He  was  born  in 


SOME  NOTABLE  BORDER  CHARACTERS      387 

what  is  now  Monroe  County,  April  12,  1799,  received  a  good 
English  education  from  a  private  tutor,  and  studied  law  at 
Lexington,  Kentucky.  He  was,  in  turn,  Circuit  Clerk,  Cir- 
cuit Judge,  State  Senator,  United  States  District  Attorney, 
Receiver  of  Public  Moneys,  and  Solicitor  of  the  General 
Land-office.  In  December,  1840,  he  was  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate,  but  died  March  22,  1843,  at  Cincin- 
nati, on  his  way  home  from  Washington.  McRoberts,  in 
appearance,  was  a  little  above  medium  height,  sparsely 
built,  and  of  a  nervous  temperament.  His  head  was  well 
shapen,  but  he  was  swayed  by  a  stubborn  will,  made  more 
conspicuous  by  high  ambition  and  great  energy.  As  a  law- 
yer, he  was  deeply  read,  and  he  won  his  way  by  power  of 
will,  rather  than  the  usual  arts  of  the  politician. 

Products  of  the  frontier,  representing  many  different 
trends  of  thought  and  degrees  of  education  and  ability, 
these  few  of  the  many  who  helped  to  uplift  Illinois  from 
savagery  to  civilization  illustrate,  each  in  his  or  her  own 
way,  something  of  the  nature  of  the  people  behind  them  - 
rough,  perhaps,  but  manly,  coarse  from  necessary  environ- 
ment, yet  ever  moving  steadily  upward  toward  higher  things, 
types  of  true  Americans. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

THE  OLD-TIME  PREACHERS 

IN  the  very  earliest  of  the  pioneer  days,  during  the  period 
of  American  occupancy,  previous  to  which  the  Roman 
Catholic  priesthood  had  held  undisputed  sway  throughout 
the  Illinois  country,  the  preachers  of  the  gospel  sprang 
largely  directly  from  the  body  of  the  people,  without  any 
previous  training,  except  in  religious  exhortation  and  un- 
guided  study  of  the  Scriptures.  In  primitive  times  it  was 
not  considered  necessary  that  a  teacher  of  religion  should  be 
a  scholar.  The  appeal  was  made  to  the  heart  and  not  the 
head;  he  was  to  know  the  Scriptures  literally,  to  appeal 
fervently,  to  paint  hell  and  heaven  so  vividly  as  to  awaken 
repentance  in  the  sinners  before  him.  The  congregations 
gathering  in  the  wilderness  were  composed  largely  of  un- 
learned men  and  women,  and  they  were  most  easily  touched 
and  persuaded  by  preachers  who  saw  things  from  their  own 
narrow  standpoint,  and  who  could  move  them  by  use  of 
their  own  peculiar  idioms  of  speech. 

They  were  often  rough  in  language,  but  always  in  ear- 
nest. Says  one  who  knew  them:  "  Sometimes  their  sermons 
would  turn  upon  matters  of  controversy,  arguing,  with  little 
learning  but  much  fervor,  on  free  grace,  baptism,  free-will, 
election,  faith,  good  works,  justification,  sanctification,  or 
the  final  perseverance  of  the  saints.  Vivid,  indeed,  were  the 
startling  word-pictures  drawn  of  the  hereafter,  and  imagina- 
tion never  failed  them  in  describing  the  bliss  of  heaven,  and 
the  awful  terrors  of  hell."  To  their  faith  these  things  were 
very  real,  and  their  earnestness  of  belief  and  description  had 

tremendous  effect  on  the  untutored  minds  of  those  composing 

388 


THE  OLD-TIME  PREACHERS  389 

their  backwoods  audiences.  Much  which  actually  occurred 
in  these  primitive  gospel  meetings,  within  the  shadow  of 
groves  or  sheltered  behind  the  walls  of  some  lonely  log 
cabin,  when  the  itinerant  preacher,  travelling  from  settle- 
ment to  settlement  through  the  wilderness,  gathered  together 
a  little  group  to  hear  his  words,  is  to-day  almost  beyond 
belief. 

The  ruder  of  these  avant-courriers  of  the  Cross,  being 
plucked  directly  from  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  almost 
totally  devoid  of  even  common  schooling,  made  up  in  loud 
declamation  and  violent  gesticulation  their  manifest  lack 
of  informing  matter.  And  it  was  equally  astonishing  to 
what  length  they  could  speak  with  nothing  really  to  say. 
One  or  two  poorly  digested  ideas,  crude  and  illogical,  would 
be  spun  out  for  an  hour  or  even  two,  apparently  to  the 
great  edification  of  their  hearers.  A  sermon's  merits  were 
tested  in  three  ways, —  by  its  length,  its  flowery,  ornate  lan- 
guage, and  by  the  vigor  of  action  exhibited  in  its  delivery. 
Oratory  was  largely  a  matter  of  sound  and  bluster,  driven 
home  by  strange,  forcible  gesticulation.  The  congregation 
must  be  moved,  plunged  into  tears,  shaken  by  spiritual 
terrors,  driven  into  some  outward  manifestation  of  remorse 
for  sin,  or  else  the  preaching  was  held  as  an  utter  failure. 
The  simple-hearted  borderers,  usually  grave  and  quiet 
enough  in  their  daily,  plodding,  home  duties,  responded 
quickly  to  professional  play  on  their  emotions;  and  he  was 
hailed  and  welcomed  as  the  strongest  exponent  of  the  Word 
who  could  create  the  greatest  excitement  in  his  meetings. 

Nevertheless,  much  as  we  may  find  now  to  criticise  in 
the  methods  then  employed  by  Methodist  circuit-rider,  or 
itinerant  Baptist  or  Presbyterian,  these  early  preachers  of 
Illinois  performed  an  important  and  necessary  work.  Their 
earnestness,  suffering,  hardships,  and  unselfish  ministry  en- 
title them  to  the  world's  respect.  They  inculcated  justice 
and  morality,  and  in  their  own  way,  a  sadly  unpolished 


390  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

way,  perhaps,  yet  the  surest  for  their  age,  drove  deep 
into  the  consciences  of  the  people  the  story  of  the 
Nazarene,  with  reward  for  virtue  and  the  certain  punish- 
ment of  sin.  In  charity,  in  humbleness  of  life,  in  abundance 
of  toil,  they  practised  all  they  preached.  At  this  time,  when 
the  country  was  so  poor  that  a  paid  and  settled  ministry 
was  impossible,  these  men  travelled  and  preached  without 
charge,  often  laboring  week-days  to  aid  those  in  whose  homes 
they  stopped,  and  always  ready  to  sacrifice  for  the  sake  of 
others  who  struggled.  They  were  true  evangelists,  living 
literally  day  by  day,  year  after  year,  the  life  of  self  renunci- 
ation laid  down  by  Christ.  They  believed  with  positive 
certainty  that  they  saw  the  souls  of  men  rushing  to  perdition, 
and  they  desired  no  higher  mission  in  life  than  to  grasp  and 
save.  Their  words  and  efforts  did  much  to  mould  the  char- 
acter of  the  early  population,  and  upon  their  self-devotion 
to  duty  rest  the  foundations  of  Protestantism  in  Illinois. 

Of  all  the  religious  gatherings  of  the  frontier,  the  camp- 
meeting  was  the  culmination.  Here  the  settlements  for 
miles  around  gathered  together  in  a  vast  spiritual  and  social 
feast,  and  the  emotional  nature  was  given  complete  sway. 
Preachers  from  far  and  near,  often  representing  different 
denominations,  gave  utterance  to  their  faith,  and  the  scenes 
witnessed  were  as  full  of  color  as  the  strange  wilderness  in 
which  they  were  enacted.  Henry  Howe  has  drawn  the 
picture  of  such  a  gathering,  worthy  of  reproduction. 

"  The  notice  has  been  circulated  for  several  weeks  or  months, 
and  all  are  eager  to  attend  the  long-expected  occasion.  The 
country,  perhaps  for  fifty  miles  around,  is  excited  with  the  cheerful 
anticipation  of  the  approaching  festival  of  religious  feeling  and 
social  friendship.  On  the  appointed  day,  coaches,  chaises,  wagons, 
carts,  people  on  horseback  and  on  foot,  in  multitudes,  with  provis- 
ion wagons,  tents,  mattresses,  household  implements,  and  cooking 
utensils,  are  seen  hurrying  from  every  direction  toward  the  central 
point.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  a  grove  of  beautiful,  lofty,  umbrageous 
trees,  natural  to  the  Western  country,  clothed  in  their  deepest 


THE  OLD-TIME  PREACHERS  391 

verdure,  and  near  some  sparkling  stream  or  gushing  fountain,  which 
supplies  the  host  with  wholesome  water  for  man  and  beast.  The 
encampment  spreads  through  the  forest,  over  hundreds  of  acres,  and 
soon  the  sylvan  village  springs  up  as  if  by  magic ;  the  line  of  tents 
and  booths  is  pitched  in  a  semicircle  or  in  a  four-sided  parallelo- 
gram, enclosing  an  area  of  two  acres  or  more,  for  the  arrangement 
of  seats  and  aisles  around  the  rude  pulpit  and  altar  for  the  throng- 
ing multitude,  all  eager  to  hear  the  heavenly  message. 

*'  Toward  night,  the  hour  of  solemn  service  approaches,  when 
the  vast  sylvan  bower  of  the  deep  umbrageous  forest  is  illumined 
by  numerous  lamps  suspended  around  the  line  of  tents  which 
encircles  the  public  area,  beside  the  frequent  altars  distributed  over 
the  same,  which  send  forth  a  glare  of  light  from  their  fagot  fires 
upon  the  worshipping  throng  and  the  majestic  forest  with  an  impos- 
ing effect,  which  elevates  the  soul  to  fit  converse  with  its  Creator, 
God. 

41  The  scenery  of  the  most  brilliant  theatre  in  the  world  is 
only  a  painting  for  children  compared  to  this.  Meantime,  the 
multitudes,  with  the  highest  excitement  of  social  feeling,  added  to 
the  general  enthusiasm  of  expectation,  pass  from  tent  to  tent,  inter- 
change apostolic  greetings  and  embraces,  and  talk  of  the  ap- 
proaching solemnities.  A  few  minutes  suffice  to  finish  the  evening 
repast,  when  the  moon  (for  they  take  thought  to  appoint  the  meet- 
ing at  the  proper  time  of  the  moon)  begins  to  show  its  disc  above 
the  dark  summits  of  the  mountains,  and  a  few  stars  are  seen  glim- 
mering in  the  west,  and  the  service  begins.  The  whole  constitutes 
a  temple  worthy  of  the  grandeur  of  God.  An  old  man  in  a  dress 
of  the  quaintest  simplicity  ascends  a  platform,  wipes  the  dust  from 
his  spectacles,  and,  in  a  voice  of  suppressed  emotion,  gives  out  the 
hymn,  of  which  the  whole  assembled  multitude  can  recite  the 
words,  to  be  sung  with  an  air  in  which  every  voice  can  join.  We 
should  esteem  meanly  the  heart  that  would  not  thrill  as  the  song  is 
heard,  *  like  a  noise  of  many  waters,'  echoing  among  the  hills  and 
mountains.  The  service  proceeds.  The  hoary  orator  talks  of 
God,  of  eternity,  of  a  judgment  to  come,  and  of  all  that  is  im- 
pressive beyond.  He  speaks  of  his  experiences, —  his  toils  and 
his  travels,  his  persecutions  and  his  welcomes,  and  how  many  he  had 
seen  in  hope,  in  peace,  and  in  triumph  gathered  to  their  fathers  ;  and 


392  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

when  he  speaks  of  the  short  space  that  remains  to  him,  his  only 
regret  is  that  he  can  no  more  proclaim,  in  the  silence  of  death,  the 
unsearchable  riches  and  mercies  of  his  crucified  Redeemer. 

"No  wonder,  as  the  speaker  pauses  to  dash  the  gathering 
moisture  from  his  own  eye,  that  his  audience  is  dissolved  in  tears, 
or  uttering  exclamations  of  penitence.  Nor  is  it  cause  for  admira- 
tion, that  many  who  prided  themselves  on  an  estimation  of  a  higher 
intellect  and  a  nobler  insensibility  than  the  crowd,  catch  the  infec- 
tious feeling,  and  become  women  and  children  in  their  turn,  while 
others,  c  who  came  to  scoff,  remain  to  pray.' " 

A  peculiarity  of  these  intensely  emotional  meetings, 
which  has  never  been  clearly  accounted  for,  was  known  as 
"the  jerks."  That  such  occurrences  were  common  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  probably  resulting  from  intense  nervous 
strain.  It  took,  however,  many  forms,  influenced  by  the 
temperament  of  the  victim.  Most  frequently  the  subject 
was  instantaneously  seized  with  spasms  or  convulsions  in 
every  muscle,  nerve,  and  tendon.  His  head  was  thrown 
or  jerked  from  side  to  side  with  such  rapidity  that  it  was 
impossible  to  distinguish  his  visage,  and  the  most  lively  fears 
were  awakened  lest  he  should  dislocate  his  neck  or  dash 
out  his  brains.  His  body  partook  of  the  same  impulse,  and 
was  hurried  on  by  like  jerks  over  every  obstacle,  fallen 
trunks  of  trees,  or  in  a  church,  over  pews  and  benches,  appar- 
ently to  the  most  imminent  danger  of  being  bruised  and 
mangled.  It  was  useless  to  attempt  to  hold  or  restrain  him, 
and  the  paroxysm  was  permitted  to  exhaust  itself  gradually. 
Oftentimes,  under  the  spell  of  this  strange  mental  pheno- 
menon, the  victims  would  fall  to  the  floor  unconscious,  or  in 
trances.  The  great  Methodist-Presbyterian  camp-meeting 
at  Cane  Ridge  in  1801  was  especially  memorable  for  such 
results.  An  observer  writes  of  this  occasion : 

"  Few,  if  any,  escaped  without  being  affected.  Such  as  tried  to 
run  from  it  were  frequently  struck  on  the  way,  or  impelled  by 
some  alarming  signal  to  return.  No  circumstances  at  this  meeting 


THE  OLD-TIME  PREACHERS  393 

appeared  more  striking  than  the  great  numbers  that  fell  on  the 
third  night,  and  remained  unconscious  of  external  objects  for  hours 
together.  To  prevent  their  being  trodden  under  foot  by  the  mul- 
titude, they  were  collected  together  and  laid  out  in  order,  on  two 
squares  of  the  meeting-house,  until  a  considerable  part  of  the  floor 
was  covered,  where  they  remained  in  charge  of  their  friends,  until 
they  should  pass  through  the  strange  phenomena  of  their  con- 
version. The  number  that  fell  at  this  meeting  was  reckoned  at 
about  three  thousand,  among  whom  were  several  Presbyterian 
ministers,  who,  according  to  their  own  confession,  had  hitherto 
possessed  only  a  speculative  knowledge  of  religion.  There,  the 
formal  professor,  and  the  deist,  and  the  intemperate,  met  with  one 
common  lot,  and  confessed  with  equal  candor  that  they  were 
destitute  of  the  true  knowledge  of  God,  and  strangers  to  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ." 

The  progress  of  early  Protestant  religious  work  in 
Illinois  can  be  traced  with  very  fair  accuracy,  although  un- 
doubtedly there  were  numerous  obscure  laborers  in  the 
field  —  licentiates  and  local  preachers  —  whose  names  have 
not  been  remembered.  The  most  careful  epitome  is  Short's 
essay  in  the  "Historical  Transactions"  for  1902.  While 
a  wandering  Separate  Baptist  preacher,  the  Rev.  James 
Smith,  was  in  all  probability  the  first  to  deliver  a  Protestant 
sermon  within  the  present  limits  of  the  State,  coming  here, 
presumably  on  a  visit  to  friends,  as  early  as  1787,  the  earliest 
organized  religious  body  performing  definite  labor  in  this 
region  was  the  Methodist.  Smith,  as  detailed  elsewhere, 
was  captured  by  the  Indians,  and  finally  redeemed  by  the 
contributions  of  the  settlers. 

During  his  brief  period  of  service  in  Illinois,  among  his 
converts  was  numbered  Captain  Joseph  Ogle,  who  later 
became  the  leading  Methodist  layman  in  the  new  settlements, 
a  class-leader,  and  occasional  local  preacher.  Ogle  arrived 
in  Illinois  as  early  as  1785,  and  died  in  1821,  aged  eighty 
years,  a  high  type  of  the  borderman.  The  earliest  Meth- 
odist preacher  to  invade  this  section  of  western  wilderness 


394  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

was  Joseph  Lillard,  a  local  preacher  from  Kentucky,  who 
gathered  a  small  class  in  Monroe  County,  and  installed 
Ogle  as  class-leader,  in  1793.  Lillard  was  a  typical  pioneer 
preacher,  a  sort  of  advance  scout,  never  remaining  any 
length  of  time  in  a  district,  but  laying  the  foundation  upon 
which  others  could  follow  and  build.  He  was  gifted  with 
rude  eloquence,  and  delighted  in  controversy.  Some  five 
years  later,  during  which  period  Ogle  had  held  his  class 
together  under  much  difficulty,  another  travelling  preacher 
of  this  denomination,  John  Clark,  visited  the  field,  and  by 
his  efforts  somewhat  increased  the  membership  and  interest. 
He  remained,  however,  only  a  brief  time,  and  passed  across 
the  river  into  Missouri  in  1798. 

The  same  year  which  marked  Clark's  arrival,  there 
came  to  the  settlements  their  first  resident  minister.  This 
was  Hosea  Riggs,  and  his  subsequent  work  proved  both 
important  and  permanent.  He  settled  on  the  American 
Bottom,  in  St.  Clair  County,  and  was  instrumental  in 
organizing  a  number  of  Methodist  societies  throughout 
Madison  County.  He  remained  in  Illinois  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  at  Belleville,  in  1841.  Mr.  Riggs,  while 
not  an  educated  man,  possessed  pulpit  ability  of  the  kind 
best  adapted  to  the  region  in  which  he  labored.  The  Illi- 
nois mission  was  organized,  under  the  care  of  the  Kentucky 
Conference,  in  1803,  with  Benjamin  Young  named  as  trav- 
elling pastor.  A  number  of  meeting-points  were  established, 
principally  in  the  Wabash  neighborhood,  but  little  perma- 
nent work  was  accomplished.  In  1806  Jesse  Walker  was 
assigned  to  this  charge.  His  labor  was  enthusiastically  under- 
taken, and  proved  successful.  Settlement  after  settlement 
was  reached  by  this  indefatigable  missionary,  and  the 
gospel  was  fearlessly  preached  where  it  had  never  before 
been  heard.  He,  more  than  any  other,  was  instrumental 
in  spreading  the  doctrines  of  Methodism  throughout  South- 
ern Illinois. 


/ 

r^         "-^'AXt 


A    I'loXEER  ILLINOIS   PREACHER 


THE  OLD-TIME  PREACHERS  395 

In  the  year  1807,  Mr.  Walker  conducted  successfully  the 
first  camp-meeting  ever  held  within  the  present  limits  of  the 
State.  It  took  place  about  three  miles  south  of  Edwards- 
ville,  in  Madison  County,  and  resulted  in  numerous  con- 
versions, and  an  awakening  of  religious  interest  throughout 
all  the  surrounding  region.  The  first  American  male  child 
born  in  Illinois  —  Enoch  Moore  —  was  converted  at  this 
time,  under  Walker's  preaching,  and  afterwards  became  a 
local  Methodist  preacher  of  considerable  note.  The  camp- 
meeting  continued  for  several  days,  with  many  manifesta- 
tions of  power.  Among  other  Methodist  preachers  who 
travelled  in  Illinois  during  the  earlier  days  —  all  being  cir- 
cuit riders,  with  no  fixed  place  of  abode,  or  definite  salary  - 
the  more  prominent  were:  John  Clingan,  James  Ward, 
William  McKendree  (afterwards  Bishop),  Samuel  Parker, 
James  Axley,  John  Scripps,  Samuel  Thompson,  Jesse 
Haille,  and  Stephen  Biggs.  The  constant  sacrifices  and 
perils  of  these  humble  messengers  of  the  Cross  are  almost 
beyond  belief.  Their  days  were  passed  in  the  saddle;  their 
nights  in  exhortation  and  prayer.  No  hardship  of  the  wil- 
derness was  unknown,  no  toil  too  great;  through  storms 
of  Winter  and  across  the  parched  Summer  prairies  they  rode 
to  keep  their  appointments  in  the  little  settlements,  their 
clothing  often  in  rags,  their  bodies  weak  from  lack  of  nour- 
ishment. The  implied  pecuniary  reward  for  such  unre- 
mitting service  was  eighty  dollars  a  year,  but  fortunate 
indeed  was  that  preacher  who  ever  received  the  half  of  it. 

In  the  year  1812,  Peter  Cartwright  was  named  as  elder 
of  the  Wabash  district,  within  the  limits  of  which  he  had 
toiled  as  an  itinerant  some  years  earlier.  In  1824  he  removed 
to  what  was  then  the  uttermost  frontier  of  Sangamon  County, 
and  became  the  most  famous  of  the  early  missionaries  of  the 
church,  his  ministry  covering  all  the  northern  and  western 
portions  of  the  State.  He  was  a  remarkable  character,  a 
preacher  of  exceptional  power,  possessing  phenomenal  energy. 


396  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

His  religious  influence  was  widespread,  and  in  his  later 
years  he  prepared  an  autobiography,  giving  many  a  vivid 
picture  of  the  hard  life  of  circuit-riders,  and  the  peculiar 
conditions  under  which  they  were  compelled  to  labor.  An- 
other early  preacher  of  great  power  and  influence  for  good 
throughout  the  Illinois  country,  to  which  he  devoted  the  best 
years  of  his  life,  was  Peter  Akers.  Zadoc  Casey  was  a  well- 
known  local  Methodist  preacher  in  Illinois  for  over  forty 
years. 

Some  few  of  these  earliest  preachers  were  more  distin- 
guished by  their  eccentricities,  than  by  their  religious  labors. 
Among  these  the  most  remarkable,  perhaps,  was  William 
Stribling,  whose  extraordinary  command  of  language  be- 
came the  laughing-stock  of  the  border. 

Baptist  work  within  the  State  was  nearly,  if  not  quite, 
as  early  undertaken  as  that  of  the  Methodist  Church,  but, 
from  the  nature  of  the  church  government,  was  not  so  im- 
mediately successful.  The  Baptist  polity  looks  to  the 
settled  pastorate,  as,  indeed,  do  nearly  all  of  the  Protestant 
denominations;  but  in  a  new,  sparsely  settled,  and  poverty- 
ruled  land,  the  itinerant  system  of  Methodism  gives  great 
advantage.  The  first  Baptist  preachers  to  visit  Illinois  were 
not  educated  men,  but  were  adapted,  from  their  controversial 
gifts,  as  well  as  rough  and  ready  speech,  for  successful  labors 
among  the  pioneer  settlements.  We  have  little  detailed 
record  of  their  earliest  labors,  yet  that  these  were  widespread, 
and  in  a  way  sufficient,  is  evidenced  by  their  proving  such 
constant  thorns  in  the  flesh  of  their  Methodist  brethren. 
Continually  in  the  reports  of  the  latter  do  we  meet  with 
complaints  of  their  interference  and  argumentative  inclina- 
tion. That  they  were  successful  in  spreading  their  doc- 
trines widely,  and  in  winning  converts,  is  evidenced  by  the 
fact  that  in  1834  they  had  within  the  State  nineteen  associa- 
tions, with  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  associated  and  five 
unassociated  churches,  one  hundred  and  forty-six  preachers, 


THE  OLD-TIME  PREACHERS  397 

and  5,635  communicants.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  other  re- 
ligious body  in  Illinois  was,  at  that  date,  as  strong. 

They,  besides,  enjoyed  the  honor  of  bringing  to  Illinois 
the  first  educated  ministry.  By  1820,  several  scholarly 
Baptist  preachers  had  located  within  the  State,  the  earliest 
and  most  widely  known  being  the  Rev.  John  M.  Peck,  who 
located  at  Rock  Spring,  St.  Clair  County.  This  gentleman 
possessed  not  only  rare  natural  gifts,  but  was  also  highly 
educated,  achieving  considerable  success  as  an  author. 
The  higher  class  of  men  who  from  this  date  began  coming 
into  the  State  and  assuming  charge  of  permanent  congrega- 
tions were  either  sent  or  encouraged  to  come  by  Northern 
and  Eastern  missionary  societies,  who  helped  to  meet  their 
expenses.  For  a  long  time  they  were  looked  upon  with  jeal- 
ousy and  distrust  by  many  of  the  old,  uneducated  race  of 
preachers  and  their  loyal  followers.  Yet  the  time  had  come 
for  a  change;  towns  were  springing  up  everywhere,  and  the 
people  required  a  settled  ministry.  Slowly,  as  the  lines  of 
the  frontier  receded,  the  younger  men,  with  new  methods  of 
work  and  broader  culture,  pressed  their  way  to  the  front, 
and  the  emotional  border  religion  became  more  and  more  a 
memory. 

The  Presbyterian  ministry  were  early  in  this  region,  and 
performed  excellent  work  even  in  the  itinerant  days.  They 
apparently  did  not  experience  as  great  difficulty  as  the 
Baptists  in  cooperating  with  the  Methodist  preachers  in  re- 
ligious exercises,  probably  because  their  details  of  belief 
were  not  so  radically  opposed.  Quite  frequently  these  two 
denominations  united  in  camp-meeting  services,  Methodist 
and  Presbyterian  preaching  from  the  same  stump,  and  vying 
with  each  other  as  to  which  should  win  the  greater  popular 
approval  for  fervid  speech  and  violent  gesture.  The  first 
minister  of  this  latter  denomination  to  reach  the  Illinois 
country  was  John  Evans  Finley,  who  came  to  Kaskaskia  in 
1797.  He  was  soon  followed  by  two  licentiates,  J.  F. 


398  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Schermerhorn,  and  Samuel  J.  Mills.  These  were  still  alone 
upon  the  field  as  late  as  1812.  The  oldest  Presbyterian 
church  within  the  State  is  that  at  Sharon,  in  White  County, 
which  was  organized  by  the  Rev.  James  McCready  in  1816. 
By  1830,  however,  this  denomination  numbered  fifty 
churches  and  thirty-four  ministers. 

The  other  branches  of  Protestantism  were  considerably 
later  in  planting  their  banners  on  Illinois  soil,  although  few, 
if  any,  of  importance  in  the  religious  world  were  unrepre- 
sented by  1840.  As  early  as  1834,  the  Episcopalians  and 
Congregationalists  had  several  churches  organized  and 
supplied  with  ministers.  The  latter,  undoubtedly,  had  nu- 
merous ordained  representatives  in  the  Illinois  field  prior  to 
this  date,  but  they  preferred  working  under  the  Presbyterian 
polity,  the  impression  long  prevailing  in  religious  circles  that 
the  Congregational  government  was  not  adapted  to  the 
West.  Probably  the  first  to  actually  try  the  experiment  were 
those  pastors  who  accompanied  colonies  from  the  New 
England  States,  continuing  in  Illinois  all  the  conditions  of 
their  former  Eastern  churches. 

With  this  incoming  of  a  more  highly  educated  ministry, 
there  was  inspired  a  desire  for  better  educational  facilities. 
It  is  impossible  here  to  trace  the  story  of  primitive  school- 
teaching,  but  we  know  that,  in  Illinois  history,  it  began  with 
some  faithful  pioneer  mother  giving  to  her  children  some 
fragmentary  knowledge  from  her  own  memory.  The  first 
school  in  this  entire  region,  established  since  the  American 
conquest  of  the  Territory,  was  opened  near  Bellefontaine, 
by  Samuel  Seely,  in  1783.  John  Doyle  taught  in  the  same 
neighborhood  at  about  the  same  time,  and  his  successor  was 
Francis  Clark,  who  was  addicted  to  intemperance.  He  was 
followed  by  an  inoffensive  Irishman,  named  Halfpenny, 
who  persevered  in  his  vocation  for  several  years.  The 
branches  taught  were  spelling,  reading,  writing,  and  arith- 
metic, and  these  in  a  very  imperfect  manner.  Later  still, 


THE  OLD-TIME  PREACHERS  399 

an  eccentric  clergyman  named  John  Clark  gratuitously  in- 
structed the  ambitious  youth  of  the  settlement. 

In  1825  was  enacted  the  first  law  providing  for  the  incor- 
poration of  common  schools,  although,  when  the  State  was 
admitted  to  the  Union  in  1818,  one  thirty-sixth  part  of  all 
the  public  lands  was  reserved  for  school  purposes.  Coin- 
cident with  this  starting  of  common  schools,  and  the  arrival 
of  an  educated  ministry,  was  the  demand  for  higher  institu- 
tions of  learning,  in  the  securing  of  which  the  various  church 
organizations  were  largely  instrumental.  Illinois  College 
was  founded  at  Jacksonville  in  1829,  anc^  by  1850  had  seven 
teachers,  thirty-four  students,  and  ninety-three  alumni,  with 
a  library  of  four  thousand  volumes.  It  was  made  possible 
largely  through  the  efforts  of  the  "Yale  Band  of  Seven," 
a  ministerial  organization.  McKendree  College  was  founded 
at  Lebanon,  St.  Clair  County,  in  1835,  by  the  Methodists, 
and  by  1850  had  four  teachers  and  sixty  students,  its  library 
containing  eighteen  hundred  volumes.  The  Congregation- 
alists  and  Baptists  were  represented  as  early  as  1835  by  Knox 
College  at  Galesburg,  and  Shurtleff  College  at  Upper  Alton, 
both  successful  institutions.  Others  rapidly  arose  through- 
out the  State  as  population  and  wealth  increased  and  the 
spirit  of  refinement  took  possession  of  the  people. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 
BORDER    OUTLAWRY 

ALMOST  every  district  of  the  United  States  in  its  earlier 
days  of  scant  population  has  been  the  scene  of  open 
crime.  Outlaws,  fleeing  in  desperation  from  the  restraints 
of  civilization,  where  enforcement  of  law  has  become  method- 
ical, find  in  the  wilderness  a  certain  license  for  the  carrying 
on  of  their  nefarious  trade.  The  settlements  are  small  and 
widely  scattered,  with  broad  spaces  of  unknown  forest  and 
prairie  lying  between;  neighbors  scarcely  know  one  another, 
and  the  usual  machinery  of  government  is  either  not  yet 
fully  organized,  or  very  imperfectly  enforced.  It  is  easy, 
under  these  circumstances,  to  attain  secrecy,  while  the  very 
life  of  the  border  naturally  breeds  a  class  of  rough  and  des- 
perate men,  capable,  under  efficient  leadership,  of  the  com- 
mission of  almost  any  crime.  Such  has  been  the  frontier  story 
from  the  very  beginning,  and  through  just  such  an  experi- 
ence Illinois  was  compelled  to  battle  her  way  into  the  ranks 
of  the  law-abiding. 

Probably  there  is  no  county  in  the  State  without  its  local 
traditions  of  organized  outlawry  during  the  period  of  earlier 
occupancy;  its  tales,  oftentimes  weird  and  gruesome  enough, 
of  unpunished  crimes.,  extending  often  over  many  years, 
until  popular  sentiment  became  too  strong  to  continue  to 
harbor  the  criminals.  Localities  are  even  to  this  day  pointed 
out  by  the  older  residents  as  having  been  the  headquarters 
of  famous  gangs  of  horse-thieves,  negro-stealers,  and  coun- 
terfeiters, whose  record  of  crime,  indeed,  probably  covered 
every  atrocity  known  to  our  modern  statutes. 

We  have  seen  in  our  travels  about  the  State,  many 

400 


BORDER   OUTLAWRY  401 

such  localities,  and  have  been  regaled  with  local  traditions  of 
former  "  bad  men  "  which  would  afford  most  interesting 
reading  could  fact  and  fiction  only  be  satisfactorily  divorced 
so  that  real  history  be  born.  In  one  county  a  mysterious 
murder-house  yet  stands  deserted  and  feared  even  by  modern 
neighbors;  in  another,  names  and  details  were  furnished  to 
form  a  thrilling  romance.  Along  the  rough  land  bordering 
the  rivers  these  legends  are  most  numerous,  and  not  a  few  of 
the  outlaw  names  mentioned  have  attained  some  notice  in 
history;  while  the  interior  counties,  even  those  originally 
settled  by  staid  New  England  colonists,  are  not  wholly  with- 
out their  records  of  early  and  reckless  criminal  life.  In 
Munson  Township  of  Henry  County,  such  a  gang,  famous 
in  its  time  for  desperate  deeds,  held  sway  for  many  years, 
extending  their  operations  almost  up  to  the  time  of  the  Civil 
War,  and  in  Knox  County  the  delver  after  the  curious  in 
border  life  is  told  of  a  famous  plum  thicket,  tangled  and 
impenetrable  save  by  means  of  a  secret  path,  where  hun- 
dreds of  stolen  horses  were  securely  hidden  away  on  their 
long  journey  southward. 

Apparently,  as  guided  by  these  various  old-time  tales  of 
lawless  adventure,  and  the  few  glimpses  afforded  by  ac- 
knowledged history,  we  may  conclude  that  the  numerous 
outlaw  gangs  infesting  Illinois  Territory  were  usually  or- 
ganized for  specific  crimes,  the  nature  of  which  was  some- 
what determined  by  the  peculiarities  of  the  country  in  which 
operations  were  being  carried  on.  Along  the  rivers  deeds  of 
violence  were  more  prevalent,  acts  of  piracy  being  frequent, 
and  oftentimes  accompanied  by  murder.  Emigrants  were 
sometimes  attacked  in  force,  while  the  solitary  traveller, 
whether  by  boat  or  on  horseback,  was  held  up  remorselessly, 
being  indeed  fortunate  to  escape  with  his  life.  The  rough 
hills  of  the  southern  section  of  the  State  contained  many  a 
rendezvous  for  such  robber  bands,  but  the  most  famous  hid- 
ing place  was  at  Cave-in-Rock,  on  the  Ohio,  a  short  distance 


402  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

below  Shawneetown.  Here,  about  1800,  flourished  a  famous 
robber  band  under  command  of  a  bloodthirsty  desperado 
named  Meason  or  Mason.  He  was  a  man  of  more  than 
ordinary  talents,  of  gigantic  stature,  and  was  both  a  land 
and  water  pirate,  infesting  the  rivers  and  woods,  and  impar- 
tially despoiling  all  who  fell  in  his  way.  Sometimes  he 
plundered  the  descending  boats,  but  generally  preferred  to 
wait,  and  take  the  owners  with  their  money  on  their  return. 
Finally,  driven  from  his  cave  by  encroaching  settlements, 
Meason  and  his  band  moved  farther  south  into  Tennessee 
and  infested  the  great  route  then  known  as  the  "  Natchez 
and  Nashville  Trace."  Here  he  became  a  terror  to  every 
traveller.  Associated  with  him  in  every  species  of  outlawry 
were  his  two  sons,  and  a  well-organized  gang  of  miscreants, 
their  operations  extending  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pearl. 
A  reward  was  offered  for  him,  dead  or  alive,  and  he  was  finally 
killed  by  treachery,  two  of  his  own  band,  in  hope  of  securing 
the  reward,  striking  him  from  behind  with  a  tomahawk, 
while  he  was  engaged  in  counting  some  ill-gotten  treasure. 
Both  traitors  were  afterwards  executed,  and  the  entire  gang 
either  killed  or  scattered.  Cave-in-Rock,  where  they  hid 
so  long,  was  peculiarly  adapted  for  such  a  purpose,  its  par- 
tially concealed  entrance  commanding  a  wide  view  both  up 
and  down  the  river.  Within,  it  is  about  one  hundred  feet 
long,  eighty  wide,  and  twenty-five  in  height.  The  floor  is 
nearly  level  throughout  the  entire  length  of  the  centre,  the 
sides  rising  in  strong  grades,  like  seats  in  the  pit  of  a  theatre. 
It  is  even  now  a  great  curiosity,  being  connected  with  an- 
other, still  more  gloomy  but  of  less  size,  situated  exactly 
above.  These  are  united  by  a  vertical  passage  of  about 
fourteen  feet,  to  ascend  which  is  like  passing  up  a  chimney, 
while  the  top  of  the  bluff  is  yet  far  above.  Many  a  legend 
of  suffering  and  torture,  wild  feasting,  and  desperate  encoun- 
ter, haunts  this  spot,  which  was  later  occupied  by  other 
desperate  bands,  and  became  the  terror  of  the  river. 


BORDER   OUTLAWRY  403 

Yet  these  were  not  alone  in  their  work  of  crime  along 
the  Illinois  waterways.  From  the  Wabash  to  the  Fever 
there  were  many  bands  operating,  no  less  desperate,  although 
never  attaining  to  equal  nefarious  fame.  The  most  notori- 
ous of  these  was  a  quite  extensive  organization  of  cut-throats, 
under  command  of  two  desperadoes  who  infested  the  Mis- 
sissippi below  St.  Louis,  and  carried  on  a  regular  and  exten- 
sive system  of  river  piracy,  principally  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Grand  Tower.  In  1787,  a  richly  laden  barge,  owned  by 
a  Mr.  Beausoliel,  came  up  the  river  from  New  Orleans. 
At  what  has  since  been  named  Beausoliel's  Island,  some  of 
these  robbers  boarded  the  vessel,  overpowered  the  crew 
and  the  owner,  and  forced  them  below.  Beausoliel's  whole 
fortune  was  in  the  barge,  and  he  was  consequently  in  agony. 
But  all  was  saved  to  him  through  the  heroic  daring  of  a  negro, 
one  of  the  crew.  This  negro,  Cacasotte,  was  short  and 
slender,  but  exceedingly  strong  and  active,  and  the  pecu- 
liar characteristics  of  the  race  had,  in  him,  given  place  to 
features  of  exceeding  grace  and  beauty.  As  soon  as  the 
robbers  had  taken  possession,  Cacasotte  appeared  overjoyed. 
He  danced,  sang,  laughed,  and  soon  induced  them  to  be- 
believe  that  his  ebullitions  of  pleasure  arose  from  their 
having  liberated  him  from  irksome  slavery.  His  constant 
attention  to  their  smallest  wants  won  their  confidence,' 
and  he  alone  was  permitted  to  roam  unmolested  and 
unwatched  through  the  vessel. 

Having  thus  far  effected  his  object,  he  seized  the  first 
opportunity  to  speak  to  Mr.  Beausoliel  and  beg  permission 
to  rid  him  of  the  dangerous  intruders.  He  laid  his  plan 
before  his  master,  who,  with  a  good  deal  of  hesitation,  ac- 
ceded to  it.  Cacasotte  was  cook,  and  it  was  agreed  between 
him  and  his  fellow-conspirators,  two  negroes,  that  the  signal 
for  dinner  should  be  the  signal  for  action.  When  the  hour 
arrived,  the  pirates  assembled  in  considerable  numbers  on 
the  deck,  and  stationed  themselves  on  the  bow  and  the  stern 


4o4  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  along  the  sides,  to  prevent  any  rising  of  the  men.  Caca- 
sotte  went  among  them  with  the  most  unconcerned  look  and 
demeanor  imaginable.  As  soon  as  his  comrades  had  taken 
their  stations,  he  placed  himself  at  the  bow,  near  one  of  the 
robbers,  a  stout,  herculean  fellow,  who  was  armed  cap-a-pie. 
Cacasotte  gave  the  preconcerted  signal,  and  immediately  the 
robber  near  him  was  struggling  in  the  water.  With  the  speed 
of  lightning  he  ran  from  one  to  another,  as  they  were  sitting 
on  the  sides  of  the  boat,  and  in  a  few  seconds'  time  had 
thrown  several  overboard.  Then  seizing  an  oar  he  struck  on 
the  head  those  who  had  attempted  to  save  themselves  by 
grappling  the  running-boards;  then  he  shot,  with  rifles  that 
had  been  dropped  on  deck,  those  who  swam  away.  In  the 
meantime  his  comrades  had  done  almost  as  much  execu- 
tion as  their  leader.  The  deck  was  soon  cleared,  and  the 
robbers  who  remained  below  were  too  few  to  offer  any 
resistance.  But  these  did  not  comprise  all  the  band ;  the 
remnant  continued  their  depredations  until  the  next  year, 
when  they  were  broken  up,  and  all  kinds  of  valuable  mer- 
chandise, the  fruits  of  their  crimes,  were  found  on  the 
island. 

At  a  later  period,  the  celebrated  counterfeiter,  Studevant, 
fixed  his  residence  in  Illinois,  on  the  Ohio,  and  for  several 
years  set  the  laws  at  defiance.  Howe's  description  of  him 
and  his  work  follows: 

"  He  was  a  man  of  talent  and  address,  possessed  mechanical 
genius,  was  an  expert  artist,  skilled  in  some  of  the  sciences,  and 
excelled  as  an  engraver.  For  several  years  he  resided  in  a  secluded 
spot,  where  all  his  immediate  neighbors  were  his  confederates,  or 
persons  whose  friendship  he  had  conciliated.  At  any  time,  by  the 
blowing  of  a  horn,  he  could  summon  from  fifty  to  a  hundred 
armed  men  to  his  defence,  while  the  few  quiet  farmers  around, 
who  lived  near  enough  to  get  their  feelings  interested,  and  who 
were  really  not  at  all  implicated  in  his  crimes,  rejoiced  in  the  im- 
punity with  which  he  practised  his  schemes.  He  was  a  grave, 


BORDER   OUTLAWRY  405 

quiet,  inoffensive-looking  man,  who  commanded  the  obedience  of 
his  comrades  and  the  respect  of  his  neighbors.  He  had  a  very 
excellent  farm ;  his  house  was  one  of  the  best  in  the  country ;  his 
domestic  arrangements  were  liberal  and  well  ordered.  Yet  this 
man  was  the  most  notorious  counterfeiter  that  ever  infested  our 
country,  and  carried  on  his  nefarious  art  to  an  extent  which  no 
other  person  has  ever  attempted.  His  confederates  were  scattered 
over  the  whole  Western  country,  receiving,  through  regular  chan- 
nels of  intercourse,  their  regular  supplies  of  counterfeit  bank  notes, 
for  which  they  paid  him  a  stipulated  price  —  sixteen  dollars  in  cash 
for  one  hundred  in  counterfeit  bills. 

"  His  security  arose  partly  from  his  caution  in  not  allowing  his 
subordinates  to  pass  a  counterfeit  bill  or  do  any  other  unlawful  act 
in  the  State  in  which  he  lived,  and  in  his  obliging  them  to  be 
especially  careful  of  their  deportment  in  the  county  of  his  residence, 
—  measures  which  effectually  protected  him  from  the  civil  authority; 
for,  although  all  the  counterfeit  bank  notes  with  which  a  vast  region 
was  inundated  were  made  in  his  house,  that  fact  never  could  be 
proved  by  legal  evidence. 

"  But  he  became  a  great  nuisance  from  the  immense  quantity 
of  spurious  paper  which  he  threw  into  circulation  ;  and  although 
personally  he  never  committed  any  acts  of  violence,  and  is  not 
known  to  have  sanctioned  any,  the  unprincipled  felons  by  whom 
he  was  surrounded  were  guilty  of  many  acts  of  desperate  atrocity; 
and  Studevant,  though  he  escaped  the  arm  of  the  law,  was  at  last, 
with  all  his  confederates,  driven  from  the  country  by  the  enraged 
people,  who  rose  almost  in  mass,  to  rid  themselves  of  one  whose 
presence  they  had  long  considered  an  evil  and  a  disgrace." 

Many  of  these  outlaws,  widely  scattered,  and  no  longer 
possessing  a  talented  leader  in  crime,  became  professional 
horse-thieves,  and  connected  themselves  with  the  numerous 
desperate  gangs  which,  in  that  early  day,  operated  extensively 
throughout  every  section  of  the  State.  "  Nigger-stealing  " 
was  confined  almost  entirely  to  the  more  southern  counties  ; 
but  the  stealing  of  horses  became  a  much  wider  general 
industry,  and  few,  indeed,  were  the  counties  without  a  well- 
organized  gang  engaged  exclusively  in  this  business.  So 


4o6  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

extensive  did  this  species  of  crime  become,  that  regular 
routes  of  travel,  with  convenient  hiding-places,  such  as  that 
already  mentioned  in  Knox  County,  were  followed  the  entire 
length  of  the  State,  and  for  many  years  the  legal  authorities 
were  utterly  powerless  to  convict,  owing  to  the  wide  influ- 
ence exercised  by  the  outlaws  in  those  neighborhoods  where 
they  made  their  homes  and  freely  spent  their  money. 
Pitched  battles  between  these  desperadoes  and  the  officers  of 
the  law  were  frequent;  murder  was  more  than  once  resorted 
to,  and  court-houses  were  even  burned  to  destroy  evidence, 
the  whole  country  being  at  times  in  a  state  of  terror.  The 
depredations  continued  almost  unchecked  until  the  people 
themselves  rose  in  the  form  of  "  Regulators,"  hanging  and 
driving  out  at  the  muzzles  of  rifles  the  worst  offenders. 

Regarding  the  work  of  these  "  Regulators,"  only  the 
more  important  affairs  can  be  dwelt  upon,  but  they  were 
probably  more  or  less  in  evidence  in  every  portion  of  the 
State.  The  fact  that  Nauvoo,  during  the  Mormon  occu- 
pancy, was  a  very  hot-bed  of  crime,  and  especially  a  hiding- 
place  for  many  dangerous  counterfeiters,  had  much  to  do 
with  those  uprisings  which  finally  drove  the  "  Saints  "  be- 
yond the  Mississippi.  As  early  as  1816  these  uprisings  of 
honest  settlers  began  for  the  purpose  of  ridding  the  country 
of  undesirable  characters.  We  must  confess  that,  much 
as  mob  rule  is  to  be  deprecated,  these  men  were  largely  jus- 
tified by  the  circumstances.  The  entire  region  was  already 
overrun  by  counterfeiters  and  horse-thieves,  while  highway 
robbery  and  even  murder  was  not  unfrequent.  No  traveller 
was  safe,  no  settler  felt  sure  of  retaining  his  stock  overnight. 
Even  the  smaller  towns  were  boldly  invaded  in  search  after 
plunder,  and  isolated  merchants  were  held  up  at  the  point 
of  the  gun.  In  many  counties  the  outlaws  were  so  numerous 
and  well  organized  as  to  set  the  laws  impudently  at  defi- 
ance. Sheriffs,  justices  of  the  peace,  and  constables  were  of 
their  number,  and  even  some  of  the  judges  of  the  county 


BORDER   OUTLAWRY  407 

courts  ;  while  numerous  friends,  some  apparently  of  the 
highest  respectability,  shielded  them  from  punishment. 
When  arrested,  they  easily  escaped  from  the  poorly  con- 
structed jails,  or  packed  the  jury,  or  used  lying  witnesses  to 
prove  themselves  innocent.  Conviction,  by  the  usual  course 
of  procedure,  proved  practically  impossible. 

It  was  under  such  intolerable  conditions  that  the  people 
finally  took  the  law  into  their  own  hands.  The  Gov- 
ernor and  judges  of  the  Territory,  realizing  the  necessity 
for  such  urgent  action,  winked  at  these  proceedings,  and 
for  a  time  lynch  law  ruled  the  entire  region,  and  purged  it  of 
a  great  deal  of  evil.  These  bodies  of  Regulators,  as  Gov- 
ernor Ford  describes  them,  were  in  numbers  about  equal  to 
a  company  of  soldiers,  and  their  officers  were  elected  as  in 
the  militia.  Their  active  operations  were  conducted  almost 
entirely  at  night.  When  assembled  for  duty,  they  marched, 
armed  and  equipped  as  if  for  actual  war,  to  the  residence  or 
lurking-place  of  some  undoubted  criminal,  arrested,  tried, 
and  punished  him  on  the  spot.  The  usual  punishment 
inflicted  by  these  impromptu  tribunals  was  a  severe  whipping 
and  banishment  from  the  Territory,  although  there  were 
many  instances  where  old  offenders  were  promptly  hanged 
on  the  nearest  tree.  In  most  of  the  districts  thus  patrolled 
this  method  proved  sufficiently  efficacious,  yet  for  many 
years  a  large  and  desperate  gang  of  ruffians  held  almost 
absolute  control  of  Pope,  Massac,  and  other  counties  border- 
ing the  Ohio  River,  resisting  every  effort  to  dislodge  them. 
They  even  built  a  fort  of  considerable  strength  in  Pope 
County,  and  for  a  time  set  the  government  at  open  defiance. 
It  was  not  until  1831  that  measures  were  taken  which  re- 
sulted in  their  overthrow.  Then,  all  the  honest  settlers  in 
that  region  rallied  under  arms,  and  attacked  the  outlaws' 
fort,  even  using  a  piece  of  artillery.  The  place  was  taken 
by  a  fierce  assault,  one  Regulator  and  three  of  the  robbers 
being  killed.  The  remaining  outlaws  were  taken  prisoners 


408  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  tried  for  their  crimes.  Even  later  than  this  occurred 
a  somewhat  similar  clash  in  Edgar  County,  in  which  another 
gang  was  summarily  dealt  with,  its  members  severely  whipped 
and  driven  from  the  county.  He  who  afterwards  became 
Governor  French  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Regulators 
engaged  in  this  affair. 

From  here  the  outbreaks  against  lawlessness  shifted  to 
the  more  northern  counties,  where  frontier  conditions  still 
invited  to  open  outlawry.  Well-organized  bands  were  for 
many  years  operating  unchecked  north  of  the  Illinois  River, 
engaged  in  murder,  robbery,  horse-stealing,  and  the  making 
and  passing  of  counterfeit  money.  While  few  districts  were 
entirely  free  from  such  criminals,  the  largest  number  of  them 
rendezvoused  in  the  counties  of  Ogle,  Winnebago,  Lee,  and 
De  Kalb.  In  Ogle  they  became  so  numerous  and  powerful 
that  any  conviction  for  crime  was  rendered  impossible. 
Acquittal  was  certain  to  follow  any  attempt  at  indictment. 

At  the  Spring  term  of  1841  seven  well-known  outlaws 
were  confined  in  the  Ogle  County  jail.  The  judge  and 
lawyers  interested  in  their  cases  had  assembled  at  the  little 
village  of  Oregon,  preparatory  to  the  holding  of  court  in  the 
new  court-house  just  completed.  The  jail  stood  near  by- 
During  the  night  a  gang  of  sympathizers  stole  out  of  the 
darkness  and  set  fire  to  the  new  building,  hoping,  in  the 
excitement  which  would  follow,  to  rescue  the  prisoners. 
This  scheme  failed,  but  the  court-house  was  entirely  con- 
sumed. Before  the  wave  of  popular  indignation  consequent 
upon  this  lawless  act  had  subsided,  the  court  convened,  and 
three  of  the  prisoners  were  tried,  convicted,  and  sentenced 
to  the  penitentiary.  In  the  trial  one  of  their  confederates 
had  managed  to  get  on  the  jury,  and  refused  to  agree  on  a 
verdict  until  the  eleven  others  threatened  to  lynch  him  in 
the  jury-room.  The  four  other  prisoners  obtained  changes 
of  venue  and  never  came  to  trial,  as  they  all  broke  out  of  jail, 
and  made  their  escape. 


OLD  COURT-HOUSE  AT  PEORIA 


RESIDENCE  OF  COLONEL  DAVENPORT  ON  ROCK 
ISLAND,  WHERE  HE  WAS  MURDERED 


BORDER  OUTLAWRY  409 

This  affair  thoroughly  aroused  the  law-abiding  residents  of 
that  region,  and  they  resolved  to  take  the  law  into  their  own 
hands.  They  were  determined  that  delays,  insecure  jails, 
changes  of  venue,  hung  juries,  and  perjured  evidence  should 
no  longer  protect  open  criminals  from  just  punishment.  All 
over  Ogle  and  Winnebago  Counties  they  organized  into 
companies  of  Regulators,  and  proceeded  to  woik,  whipping 
the  more  notorious  rascals  and  ordering  others  to  leave  the 
country.  Among  those  who  were  sentenced  to  banishment 
was  a  family  named  Driscoll,  consisting  of  the  old  man  and 
several  sons.  The  father  and  some  of  the  boys  had  been 
in  the  Ohio  penitentiary,  and  were  well-known  thieves. 
The  old  man  was  a  stoutly  built,  hardened,  desperate  man, 
while  the  boys  had  been  brought  up  in  the  atmosphere  of 
crime.  This  family  determined  not  to  be  driven  away,  and, 
joining  with  others  of  a  like  determination,  resolved  to  ter- 
rorize the  Regulators  by  threatening  death  to  the  leading 
members  of  that  organization.  To  prove  such  threats  were 
not  idle,  they  decided  to  begin  by  assassinating  the  Captain. 

For  this  purpose,  one  Sunday  evening  about  dark,  just 
after  the  family  had  returned  from  church,  some  of  the 
Driscolls  went  to  Captain  Campbell's  house.  Pretending 
to  be  strangers  inquiring  their  way,  they  called  their  victim 
out  into  his  dooryard,  and  then  deliberately  shot  him  dead 
before  the  eyes  of  his  wife  and  children.  Before  daybreak 
the  news  had  spread  over  the  whole  surrounding  country. 
From  all  quarters  the  people  came  pouring  in  toward  the 
home  of  the  murdered  man,  which  was  in  White  Rock 
Grove.  Here  they  were  still  more  influenced  by  viewing 
their  dead  leader  and  witnessing  the  sorrow  of  his  wife  and 
children,  and  the  avengers  spread  out  over  the  country  in 
search  after  the  murderers. 

The  actual  committers  of  the  atrocious  crime  had  made 
their  escape,  but  there  was  no  doubt  that  Driscoll  and  his 
sons  were  connected  with  it,  and  they  were  made  prisoners 


4io  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  taken  to  Washington  Grove  for  trial.  Here  the  old  man 
and  one  boy  were  convicted,  the  other  acquitted.  This  trial 
occupied  nearly  an  entire  day,  and  was  conducted  in  an 
orderly  manner,  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  assemblage  of 
Regulators,  some  three  hundred  men,  including  magistrates 
and  ministers  of  the  gospel.  Those  condemned  were  sen- 
tenced to  be  shot  within  an  hour.  Given  every  opportunity 
for  repentance,  rind  with  the  consolations  of  religion  adminis- 
tered to  them,  they  were  brought  out  for  execution.  Placed 
in  a  kneeling  position,  their  eyes  bandaged,  the  whole  com- 
pany present  fired  upon  them,  so  that  none  could  be  legal 
witnesses  of  the  deed.  Death  was  instantaneous,  and  from 
that  hour  the  ascendency  of  criminals  ceased  in  the  northern 
counties. 

Nowhere  in  the  State  did  a  similar  condition  of  affairs 
continue  to  exist,  except  in  Massac  County,  which  for  years 
was  not  only  overrun  but  actually  controlled  by  vicious  law- 
lessness. Courts,  and  nearly  all  the  county  and  township 
officials,  were  at  one  time  actual  participants  in  outlawry, 
and  the  entire  region  was  apparently  a  den  of  thieves.  In 
1846  this  carnival  of  crime  was  at  its  height,  the  condition 
such  as  to  be  now  almost  unbelievable.  During  the  Sum- 
mer of  that  year  a  number  of  these  desperadoes  made  a  raid 
into  Pope  County,  and  entering  the  house  of  an  aged  resi- 
dent, robbed  him  of  about  two  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars  in  gold.  While  committing  this  crime,  one  of  the 
participants  left  behind  a  knife,  which,  having  been  made 
by  a  neighboring  blacksmith,  identified  him  with  the  act. 
Being  arrested  and  tortured  by  the  aroused  neighbors,  he 
confessed  his  crime,  and  gave  the  name  of  his  associates. 
These  also,  being  apprehended,  were  in  turn  tortured,  and 
from  them  was  learned  a  long  list  of  confederates,  scattered 
through  various  counties.  To  drive  these  out,  Regulators 
were  organized,  but  before  they  could  act,  the  election  for 
county  officers  occurred  in  August,  1846. 


BORDER  OUTLAWRY  411 

Every  criminal  influence  united  in  this  election,  and,  as 
a  result,  men  were  elected  who  were  popularly  believed  to 
be  favorable  to  the  disturbing  element.  Whether  true  or 
not,  the  two  defeated  candidates  for  sheriff  and  county  clerk 
took  advantage  of  this  general  feeling  of  distrust  to  rally 
about  them  all  the  different  bands  of  Regulators  in  Pope  and 
Massac  Counties  for  an  organized  attack  on  all  suspected  of 
crime.  Assisted  by  numerous  recruits  from  Kentucky, 
these  men  proceeded  to  drive  out  and  punish  all  persons 
suspected,  and  by  torture  force  them  to  betray  their  com- 
panions. In  this  way  long  lists  of  names  were  obtained. 
The  usual  mode  of  torture  was  to  take  their  victim  down  to  the 
Ohio  and  hold  him  underwater  until  ready  to  confess.  A  few 
of  these  victims  swore  out  warrants  against  their  persecutors, 
but  when  the  sheriff  attempted  arrests,  he  and  the  county 
clerk  were  both  ordered  to  leave  the  country,  under  threats  of 
severe  punishment. 

By  September,  1846,  the  whole  county  was  practically 
in  the  hands  of  these  Regulators,  the  officials  being  powerless. 
Having  started  out  to  achieve  law  and  order,  under  unscru- 
pulous leaders  this  organization  was  becoming  a  lawless 
terror,  threatening  every  one,  whether  rogue  or  honest  man, 
who  dared  to  protest  against  their  proceedings.  A  reign 
of  terror  followed,  which  has  scarcely  a  precedent  in  border 
history.  The  sheriff,  county  clerk,  and  several  representa- 
tives in  the  legislature  were  driven  out  by  force,  and  every 
corner  of  the  region  witnessed  almost  daily  scenes  of  violence 
and  Outrage.  About  this  time  the  circuit  court  was  held 
for  Massac,  with  Judge  Scates  on  the  bench.  Several  of 
the  Regulators  were  indicted,  and  some  were  arrested  by  the 
sheriff  and  committed  to  jail.  But  the  Regulators,  assisted 
by  large  numbers  from  Kentucky,  rose  in  open  revolt  against 
the  law,  and  the  sheriff  was  unable  to  raise  a  sufficient  posse 
to  carry  on  the  duty  of  his  office.  The  moderate  men  in  the 
county,  who  probably  outnumbered  the  others  three  to  one, 


4i2  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

were  so  thoroughly  terrorized  as  to  refuse  to  take  part,  and 
the  sheriff  was  compelled  to  use  a  set  of  fellows  of  ill  repute. 

The  Regulators  took  every  advantage  of  his  predicament, 
and  in  their  full  strength  marched  down  to  Metropolis  City, 
the  county  seat.  Here  the  sheriff  and  his  party  were  com- 
pelled to  surrender,  the  jail  was  opened,  and  those  imprison- 
ed set  free.  The  sheriff  and  many  of  his  friends  were  driven 
out  of  the  country,  and  several  of  his  posse  were  murdered 
by  being  drowned  in  the  Ohio.  The  entire  region  became 
divided  into  two  warring  factions,  known  as  "  Regulators  " 
and  "  Flatheads  ";  all  law  was  set  at  defiance,  while  violence 
was  resorted  to  on  every  side.  No  man's  life  or  property 
was  safe  in  Massac  or  Pope  County,  the  State  government 
attempting  little  in  the  way  of  enforcing  law. 

An  illustration  of  the  atrocious  deeds  committed  is  found 
in  the  case  of  one  Mathis.  He  was  an  old  man,  and  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  compelling  him  to  give  certain  evidence 
required  against  his  neighbors,  some  twenty  Regulators 
visited  his  house  at  night.  He  and  his  wife  resisted,  and  the 
old  woman,  being  strong  and  active,  knocked  down  one  or 
two  of  the  party.  In  return  she  was  shot  through  the  thigh, 
besides  being  struck  several  blows  on  the  head  with  a  gun- 
barrel.  Mathis  was  carried  away,  and  probably  murdered, 
as  he  was  never  again  heard  of.  Warrants  were  sworn  out 
for  the  arrest  of  these  ruffians,  and  ten  of  them  were  taken. 
These  were  carried  to  Metropolis  City,  and  placed  under 
guard  at  the  old  Metropolis  House,  and  at  once  a  large  force 
of  Regulators  gathered  and  marched  down  to  the  county 
seat  for  the  purpose  of  liberating  the  prisoners.  Some 
trouble  and  shooting  occurred,  one  man  was  fatally  stabbed, 
the  "  Flatheads  "  were  overpowered,  and  a  number  of  them, 
including  the  sheriff,  turned  over  as  prisoners  to  the  Ken- 
tuckians. 

These  were  immediately  taken  away,  all  securely  tied 
together,  in  the  direction  of  Paducah.  As  they  were  never 


BORDER  OUTLAWRY  413 

again  heard  of,  it  is  presumed  they  were  drowned  in  the 
waters  of  the  Ohio.  This  state  of  terror  reigned  undis- 
turbed until  it  died  out  naturally.  The  legislature  took 
some  action,  but  nothing  sufficiently  drastic  to  accomplish 
results.  No  one  was  ever  legally  punished  for  any  of  the 
outrages  committed,  but  the  disturbances  slowly  died  away, 
and  law  gradually  resumed  sway  throughout  all  this  region. 
For  fifty  years  the  upper  Mississippi  was  haunted  by 
bands  of  desperadoes,  who  found  safe  hiding-places  on  the 
seldom-visited  islands  or  in  well-hidden  haunts  along  the 
shore.  Travellers  were  attacked  on  both  land  and  water, 
in  the  earlier  days  particular  attention  being  paid  to  the 
Galena  ore-boats,  which  were  oftentimes  compelled  to  run 
the  gauntlet  to  St.  Louis.  Many  of  these  bands  cooperated 
with  the  Indians,  who  assisted  them  in  their  raids  and  hid 
them  later  in  their  villages.  Nauvoo,  both  during  and  after 
the  Mormon  occupancy,  contained  many  bad  men,  besides 
its  nest  of  counterfeiters,  who  operated  extensively  in  piracy 
along  the  upper  river,  and  not  infrequently  added  murder 
to  their  lesser  crimes.  Those  desperadoes  who  murdered 
Colonel  George  Davenport  in  his  lonely  home  on  Rock 
Island  were  from  Nauvoo,  and  the  story  of  their  desperate 
crime  is  stranger  than  any  romance.  They  were  convicted 
and  hanged,  their  fate  having  much  to  do  with  the  subse- 
quent clearing  away  of  these  rascals  from  the  river.  This, 
however,  was  not  so  much  accomplished  by  the  strong  hand 
of  the  law,  as  by  thicker  settlement,  and  a  better  popular 
sentiment,  which  rendered  crime  unsafe. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

THE   EARLY   STEAMBOAT   DAYS 

^  I  ^HE  Western  water-ways  have  witnessed  many  strange 
JL  forms  of  transportation  since  the  advent  of  the  white 
man.  The  first  explorers  found  the  narrow  Indian  canoe, 
usually  of  Algonquin  manufacture,  sufficient  for  all  purposes, 
but  as  time  rolled  on  and  new  necessities  arose,  these  primi- 
tive contrivances  gave  way  to  others  scarcely  less  unique. 
Succeeding  the  canoe  came  in  due  season,  at  the  demand  of 
trade,  the  flat-boat,  the  pirogue,  the  Mackinaw-boat,  the  keel- 
boat,  the  barge,  the  horse-boat,  and  last,  but  not  least,  the 
"  broad-horn,"  or  produce-boat,  which  for  many  years  was 
extensively  used  in  floating  heavy  loads  to  the  market  of  far- 
away New  Orleans. 

This  huge,  ungainly  craft  worked  very  well  so  long  as  it 
could  float  downward  with  the  current,  but  to  ascend  with 
it  was  almost  an  impossibility.  Yet,  occasionally,  even  this 
miracle  was  accomplished.  Labor  was  cheap,  a  broad  sail 
could  often  be  used  to  advantage,  and  otherwise  sweeps, 
poles,  and  tow-ropes  were  always  at  hand.  Yet,  as  a  rule, 
keel-boats  and  barges  were  found  more  generally  available 
for  the  up-stream  voyage,  and  even  with  such  carriers  it 
commonly  required  four  months  of  most  disheartening  toil 
between  New  Orleans  and  the  falls  of  the  Ohio.  In  the 
fur  trade  the  pirogue  and  the  Mackinaw-boat  were  mostly 
used.  These  were  constructed  roughly  at  the  far-off  forts, 
loaded  with  peltries,  manned  by  voyageurs,  and  sent  down 
the  river  on  the  Spring  floods.  Few  of  them  were  ever 
taken  back  again,  but  disposed  of  in  any  way  possible,  or 

left  to  rot  along  the  banks. 

414 


THE  EARLY  STEAMBOAT  DAYS  415 

The  entire  commerce  of  the  Mississippi,  until  the  coming 
of  the  steamboat,  was  confined  to  the  shipment  of  lead  ore, 
and  the  bringing  in  of  the  small  amount  of  provisions  required 
by  the  miners.  This  was  largely  done  by  means  of  keel- 
boats  of  about  one  hundred  tons  capacity.  Barges  were  also 
used  for  the  down-stream  trip.  The  first  steamboat  to 
penetrate  into  these  upper  waters,  or  above  the  Des  Moines 
Rapids,  is  believed  to  have  been  the  "  Virginia,"  which  arrived 
at  Galena  in  1823,  and  the  same  year  reached  Fort  Snelling  ; 
but  the  keel-boats  and  barges  continued  the  more  popular 
for  many  years  later.  The  old-time  barge  was  a  cumber- 
some, slow,  and  dangerous  contrivance.  These  boats  were 
from  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  feet  long,  with  a  breadth 
of  beam  of  from  fifteen  to  twenty  feet,  and  a  carrying  capac- 
ity of  from  six  to  one  hundred  tons.  The  receptacle  for  the 
freight  was  a  large  covered  coffer,  called  a  "  cargo-box," 
which  occupied  a  considerable  portion  of  the  bulk.  Near 
the  stern  was  a  small  apartment,  six  or  eight  feet  long,  whert 
the  captain  or  owner  was  quartered  at  night.  On  the  ele- 
vated roof  of  this  cabin  the  steersman  stood  to  guide  the 
unwieldy  craft.  It  usually  boasted  of  two  masts,  the  main 
reliance  being  a  large  square  sail  set  well  forward,  capable 
of  relieving  the  men  greatly  when  the  wind  was  right.  About 
fifty  men  were  usually  necessary  as  a  crew,  and  their  labors 
on  a  long  voyage  were  varied  —  sometimes  they  pulled  at 
the  heavy  oars,  or  towed  the  boat  from  the  shore.  Occasion- 
ally they  were  obliged  to  "  warp  "  their  slow  way  along,  and 
then  again  to  take  a  spell  at  "  poling  ";  in  fact,  it  was  pole 
and  warp,  and  tow  and  row  for  months  at  a  time  to  fetch  a 
cargo  from  the  Gulf  to  St.  Louis. 

We  are  reliably  informed  that,  previous  to  the  coming 
of  the  steamboats  to  these  waters,  say  in  1817,  the  entire 
commerce  from  New  Orleans  to  the  upper  country  was 
carried  in  about  twenty  such  barges,  averaging  one  hundred 
tons  each,  and  making  but  a  single  trip  each  year.  The 


4i6  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

first  appearance  of  the  keel-boat,  and  possibly  also  of  the 
barge,  on  the  Mississippi,  above  the  Ohio,  of  which  there  is 
any  official  record,  was  in  1751,  when  a  fleet  of  such  boats, 
under  command  of  Bossu,  a  captain  of  French  marines, 
ascended  as  far  as  Fort  Chartres.  One  of  these  was  left 
helpless  on  a  sand-bar,  another  struck  a  snag  and  sank, 
while  the  general  hardship  of  the  voyage  was  indignantly 
commented  upon.  Manuel  White,  in  describing  a  trip  he 
made  on  such  a  boat  from  Louisville  to  New  Orleans 
in  1801,  which  required  sixty  days,  says:  'There  was 
not  to  be  seen  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  from  the  foot  of  the 
falls  to  the  mouth,  but  a  small  settlement  called  Red  Banks, 
another  called  Yellow  Banks,  Fort  Massac,  and  a  cabin 
below  Cave-in-Rock." 

The  first  steamboat  to  navigate  the  Western  waters  and 
along  the  Illinois  shore  was  named  the  "  New  Orleans." 
She  left  Pittsburg  in  September,  1811,  on  her  venturesome 
voyage.  This  vessel  was  one  hundred  and  sixteen  feet  in 
length,  twenty  feet  beam,  and  four  hundred  tons  burden. 
The  engine  possessed  a  tliirty-four-inch  cylinder,  with  boiler 
in  proportion,  and  the  totr.l  cost  approximated  thirty-eight 
thousand  dollars.  There  were  two  cabins,  one  aft  for  ladies 
and  a  larger  one  forward  for  men.  The  ladies'  cabin  con- 
tained four  berths,  and  on  this  initial  trip  was  occupied  by 
the  owner,  Mr.  Roosevelt,  and  his  wife,  who  were  the  only 
passengers.  The  crew  consisted  of  the  captain,  an  engineer 
named  Baker,  Andrew  Sack  the  pilot,  six  hands,  two  female 
servants,  a  man  waiter,  a  cook,  and  a  dog  named  "  Tiger." 
The  people  of  Pittsburg  turned  out  en  masse  to  bid  them 
good-bye,  and  they  received  similar  ovations  at  Cincinnati 
and  Louisville.  In  many  ways  it  proved  an  adventurous 
voyage;  the  passage  of  the  falls  of  the  Ohio  was  made  with 
difficulty  and  some  peril;  the  great  comet  of  that  year 
blazed  in  the  sky  overhead,  and  they  felt  the  effect  of  the 
earthquake  which  wrought  such  damage  at  New  Madrid, 


THE  EARLY  STEAMBOAT  DAYS  417 

and  barely  escaped  being  caught  in  its  grasp.  The  terrors 
of  fire  also  threatened  them  on  one  occasion,  and  great  diffi- 
culty was  experienced  from  shoals,  snags,  and  sawyers.  To 
add  romance  to  the  other  adventures  of  the  trip;  the  captain 
fell  in  love  with  Mrs.  Roosevelt's  maid,  and  prosecuted  his 
suit  so  successfully  that  a  marriage  was  duly  celebrated  at 
Natchez. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  checkered  careers  of  those 
first  frail  steamboats  —  all  more  or  less  experiments  —  that 
navigated  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi.  The 
second  boat  built  was  the  "  Comet,"  of  twenty-five  tons. 
She  made  a  voyage  to  Louisville  in  1813,  and  reached  New 
Orleans  the  following  Spring.  After  two  trips  she  was  sold,  and 
her  engines  utilized  to  drive  a  cotton-gin.  The  "  Vesuvius  " 
was  the  third  boat,  and  registered  three  hundred  and  forty 
tons.  Under  command  of  Frank  Ogden,  she  started  for 
New  Orleans  in  June,  1814,  but  grounded  on  a  bar  just  be- 
low the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  where  she  rested  until  December, 
when  the  river  rose  and  floated  her  off.  A  very  similar 
experience  occurred  to  her  at  New  Orleans.  Finally  taking 
fire,  she  burned  to  the  water's  edge.  The  "  Enterprise  " 
was  the  fourth  boat,  of  forty-five  tons  burden.  Henry 
M.  Sheve  was  her  commander,  and  she  was  used  chiefly  in 
transporting  troops  and  munitions  of  war.  She  was  con- 
sidered unusually  fast  for  those  days,  having  a  record  of  six 
hundred  and  twenty-four  miles  in  six  and  a  half  days,  which 
in  these  later  times  awakens  a  smile.  She  was  wrecked  at 
Shippingport  in  1815.  The  "  JEtna.  "  was  the  fifth  boat, 
and  under  command  of  Captain  Robinson  de  Hart,  made 
six  trips  between  Louisville  and  New  Orleans.  Her  end 
is  unknown. 

The  sixth  boat,  the  "  Zebulon  M.  Pike,"  has  a  history  of 
greater  interest,  as  she  was  the  first  to  ascend  the  Mississippi 
above  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  and  to  reach  St.  Louis.  The 
"  Pike  "  was  built  at  Henderson,  Kentucky,  in  1815,  and  per- 


4i 8  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

formed  a  maiden  trip  to  Louisville,  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  in  sixty-seven  hours,  averaging  three  and  one-fourth 
miles  per  hour  against  the  current.  *  The  hull,"  says  a 
writer  of  the  day,  "  was  built  on  the  model  of  a  barge,  and 
the  cabin  built  on  the  lower  deck  inside  of  the  running- 
boards."  The  vessel  was  propelled  by  a  low-pressure  engine 
with  a  walking-beam,  there  being  but  one  smoke-stack,  and 
no  houses  over  the  wheels.  In  a  rapid  current,  the  crew 
were  compelled  to  aid  progress  by  the  use  of  main  strength. 
They  diligently  operated  poles  and  running-boards  the 
same  as  if  they  were  on  a  barge.  Captain  Jacob  Read  took 
the  "  Pike  "  to  St.  Louis,  running  his  boat  only  during  day- 
light, and  thus  consumed  six  weeks  in  making  the  trip  be- 
tween Louisville  and  St.  Louis.  He  tied  up  at  the  foot  of 
Market  Street,  August  2,  1817.  The  scattered  inhabitants 
along  the  Illinois  shore  gazed  in  wonder  as  this  strange 
apparition  went  chugging  noisily  past  their  little  settlements. 
At  St.  Louis  all  the  citizens  gathered  on  the  bank  to  welcome 
their  novel  visitor.  Among  them,  tradition  says,  was  a 
group  of  Indians.  As  the  boat  approached,  the  glare  from 
the  furnace  and  the  volume  of  murky  smoke  filled  the  un- 
tutored savages  with  sudden  dismay.  They  fled  to  the  high 
ground  in  the  rear  of  the  village,  and  no  assurances  of  safety 
could  induce  them  to  approach  the  snorting  monster  again. 
The  "  Pike  "  made  several  trips  over  this  strip  of  river,  but 
was  finally  snagged  in  March,  1818,  in  the  Red  River. 

The  "  Dispatch,  "  the  "  Buffalo,  "  and  the  "  James 
Monroe  "  followed,  but  it  remained  for  the  tenth  boat  to 
demonstrate  beyond  further  question  that  steamboating 
was  destined  to  be  a  success  on  Western  water-ways.  This 
was  the  "  Washington,"  four  hundred  tons,  and  a  two-decker, 
the  first  to  carry  her  boilers  on  the  upper  deck.  Under  com- 
mand of  Captain  Shreve,  she  left  Shippingport,  and  made 
the  round  trip  to  New  Orleans  in  the  unprecedented  time 
of  forty-five  days.  The  thirty-fifth  boat  built  was  the  "  Gen- 


THE  EARLY  STEAMBOAT  DAYS  419 

eral  Pike,"  and  her  title  to  fame  rests  in  the  fact  that  she  was 
the  first  used  in  the  West  exclusively  for  passengers.  Her 
cabin  was  forty  feet  in  length  and  twenty-five  in  breadth. 
At  one  end  were  six  staterooms,  and  at  the  other  end  eight. 
Between  was  a  saloon  capable  of  accommodating  one  hun- 
dred passengers. 

The  time  required  in  travelling  by  these  early  boats  seems 
something  extremely  tedious  to  those  of  us  living  in  the 
present  age  of  rapid  transit,  but  in  that  day  it  was  considered 
remarkable,  and  many  thought  it  would  never  be  surpassed. 
In  1815,  it  required  twenty-five  days,  two  hours,  and  forty 
minutes,  by  the  fastest  steamers,  to  make  the  trip  from  New 
Orleans  to  Louisville,  a  distance  of  1,486  miles.  Very  grad- 
ually this  was  impro/ed  upon.  In  1828,  the  "  Tecumseh  " 
cut  it  down  to  eight  days,  four  hours,  and  finally  in  1853, 
the  "  Eclipse  "  established  her  record  as  the  swiftest  boat 
afloat,  by  covering  the  distance  in  four  days,  nine  hours,  and 
thirty  minutes.  In  1823  there  were  public  rejoicings  at 
Louisville  over  a  steamer  arriving  there  in  fifteen  days  and 
six  hours  from  New  Orleans,  and  the  captain,  answering  a 
toast,  gravely  announced  that  he  really  believed  the  voyage 
might  be  made  in  six  hours  less.  This  same  reduction 
in  time  is  noticeable  on  all  the  rivers.  From  New  Orleans 
to  Cairo,  the  "  J.  M.  White,"  doing  ordinary  business  along 
the  way,  made  the  1,024  miles  in  three  days,  six  hours,  and 
forty-four  minutes.  From  Louisville  to  St.  Louis  the  run 
was  made  in  1855  by  the  "  Southerner  "  in  forty-three  hours, 
a  notable  improvement  over  the  six  weeks  required  in  1817. 
On  the  upper  river,  as  early  as  1859,  the  "  Louisiana  "  ran 
from  St.  Louis  to  Keokuk  in  sixteen  hours  and  twenty 
minutes  ;  ten  years  later,  the  "  Hawkeye  State  "  is  said  to 
have  reached  St.  Paul  in  two  days  and  twenty  hours,  and  the 
"  Cataract  "  attained  La  Salle,  on  the  Illinois  River,  from 
St.  Louis  in  twenty-three  hours,  forty-five  minutes. 

These  early  records  of  increased   steamboat  efficiency 


42o  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

and  speed  were  attained  in  the  course  of  regular  business 
done  at  the  various  landings.  At  one  time,  however,  rivalry 
between  the  different  lines  became  very  fierce,  and  resulted 
in  numerous  hard-fought  races  for  supremacy.  In  such 
cases,  boats  were  often  stripped  for  the  contest,  and  pressed 
to  the  utmost  by  enthusiastic  crews,  coaled  from  barges 
while  going  at  full  speed,  and  few  if  any  stops  made  until 
the  goal  was  reached.  The  most  famous  races  in  water- 
ways bordering  Illinois  were  those  between  the  "  Baltic  " 
and  the  "Diana"  in  1854;  and  that  tremendous  struggle 
of  1,218  miles  between  the  "Natchez"  and  the  "Robert 
E.  Lee  "  in  1870.  This  last  was  probably  the  greatest  steam- 
boat race  ever  run  in  the  world.  The  "  Baltic  "  and  the 
"  Diana,"  between  whose  crews  considerable  rivalry  ex- 
isted, chanced  to  leave  New  Orleans  on  the  same  day,  bound 
for  Louisville,  the  "  Baltic "  being  slightly  in  the  lead. 
Neither  boat  had  ever  exhibited  any  great  speed,  and  while 
the  result  was  what  might  be  termed  a  slow  race,  it  was  an 
extraordinarily  long  one,  hotly  contested  to  the  end,  and  be- 
came intensely  exciting  to  the  participants.  During  all  of 
the  1,486  miles  covered,  there  was  not  an  hour  of  the  time 
when  the  two  boats  were  out  of  sight  or  hearing  of  each 
other.  An  artist  chanced  to  be  on  board  the  "  Baltic  "  at 
the  time,  and  he  immortalized  the  event  by  transferring  to 
canvas,  in  oil,  a  night  scene,  in  which  were  graphically  de- 
picted the  two  imposing  steamers  in  the  foreground.  The 
"  Baltic  "  won  the  race,  but  the  time  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  recorded. 

The  "  Natchez-Lee  "  race  attracted  international  atten- 
tion, and  immense  sums  of  money  were  wagered  on  the  re- 
sult. There  had  long  been  great  rivalry  between  the  boats 
and  their  commanders,  T.  P.  Leathers  of  the  "  Natchez  " 
and  John  W.  Cannon  of  the  "  Lee."  In  June,  1870,  the 
former  made  the  fastest  time  on  record  between  New  Orleans 
to  St.  Louis,  three  days,  twenty-one  hours,  and  fifty-eight 


THE  EARLT  STEAMBOAT  DAYS  421 

minutes.  When  Captain  Cannon  heard  this,  he  deter- 
mined to  beat  it  if  possible.  He  stripped  the  "  Lee  "  for 
the  race,  removing  all  parts  of  her  upper  works  likely  to 
catch  the  wind,  took  down  all  the  rigging  that  could  be  dis- 
pensed with,  and  engaged  another  steamer  to  proceed  up 
the  river,  one  hundred  miles  in  advance,  to  supply  her  with 
coal  in  midstream.  All  business  was  refused  for  way- 
landings,  and  no  passengers  were  received.  Meanwhile 
the  "  Natchez "  received  a  few  tons  of  freight,  accepted 
some  passengers,  and  advertised  to  leave  for  St.  Louis  on 
June  30.  During  the  afternoon  of  that  day  the  "  Lee  " 
backed  out  from  the  levee,  and  five  minutes  later  the  "  Nat- 
chez "  followed  her.  The  whole  country  was  interested 
in  the  race,  it  having  been  widely  advertised  by  the  press, 
and  the  details  of  its  progress  being  reported  by  telegraph. 
Crowds  gathered  at  the  various  cities  along  the  way,  and 
even  at  out-of-the-way  points  people  stood  straining 
their  eyes  to  catch  sight  of  the  flying  racers.  Everything 
possible  to  increase  speed  was  resorted  to,  and  thus  night 
and  day  the  two  contestants  sped  up  the  river  in  a  struggle 
for  mastery.  But  at  Cairo  the  race  was  virtually  ended, 
although  the  "  Lee  "  continued  to  St.  Louis  at  top  speed,  arriv- 
ing there  in  three  days,  eighteen  hours,  and  fourteen  minutes 
from  the  time  of  her  leaving  New  Orleans,  thus  beating  by 
thirty-three  minutes  the  previous  record  of  the  "  Natchez.  " 
The  latter  steamer  became  enveloped  in  a  fog  above  Cairo, 
and  was  delayed  for  six  hours.  The  conclusion  of  the  race 
resulted  in  much  controversy,  but  it  was  generally  conceded 
that  the  "  Lee  "  had  won  fairly. 

From  the  very  beginning  of  steamboat  navigation  on 
the  Western  rivers,  accidents  have  been  numerous  and  often 
fatal.  Comparatively  few,  however,  of  those  which  may 
be  ranked  among  great  disasters  have  occurred  in  Illinois 
waters.  The  earliest  of  these  was  the  loss  of  the  steamer 
"  Mechanic  "  in  1825,  while  on  the  way  from  Nashville  to 


422  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

Marietta,  Ohio,  having  on  board,  at  the  time,  General  La 
Fayette,  General  Carroll  and  staff,  Governor  Coles  of  Illinois, 
and  several  others  of  prominence.  About  midnight,  May  6, 
while  ascending  the  Ohio,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
miles  below  Louisville,  and  close  to  the  mouth  of  Deer 
Creek,  the  boat  struck  a  snag  in  midstream,  and  immedi- 
ately began  to  settle.  The  night  was  very  dark,  and  much 
confusion  ensued,  but  General  La  Fayette  was  hurried  on 
deck,  and  assisted  over  the  rail,  where  a  yawl  waited  to  con- 
vey him  ashore.  In  the  excitement  he  fell  overboard,  and 
being  then  far  advanced  in  years,  narrowly  escaped  drowning 
before  help  arrived.  He  lost  eight  thousand  dollars  in  money, 
besides  much  personal  property.  Captain  Hall,  devoting 
all  his  attention  to  his  distinguished  guests,  forgot  his  own 
interests,  and  lost  a  desk  containing  nearly  two  thousand 
dollars. 

A  most  distressing  accident,  by  which  sixteen  persons 
were  instantly  killed  and  several  others  badly  scalded,  took 
place  on  the  Mississippi,  while  the  boat  "  Dubuque  "  was 
on  her  voyage  from  St.  Louis  to  Galena.  The  locality 
of  the  disaster  was  off  Muscatine  Bar,  eight  miles  below 
Burlington.  The  "  Dubuque  "  was  running  under  a  moderate 
pressure  of  steam  at  the  time,  when  the  flue  of  the  larboard 
boiler,  probably  on  account  of  some  defect  in  the  material 
or  workmanship,  collapsed,  throwing  a  torrent  of  scalding 
water  over  the  deck.  The  pilot  immediately  steered  for  the 
shore  and  effected  a  landing. 

When  the  consternation  and  dismay  occasioned  by  the 
explosion  had  in  some  measure  subsided,  Captain  Smoker, 
the  commander  of  the  "  Dubuque,"  and  such  of  his  crew 
as  were  not  disabled  by  the  accident,  made  their  way  with 
considerable  difficulty  through  the  ruins  to  the  after  part  of 
the  boiler-deck,  when  it  was  found  that  the  whole  of  the 
freight  and  every  other  article  which  had  been  there  depos- 
ited were  cleared  off  and  blown  far  away  into  the  water. 


THE  EARLY  STEAMBOAT  DAYS  423 

The  unfortunate  deck  passengers,  together  with  the  cooks 
and  several  of  the  crew,  were  severely  scalded  either  by  the 
hot  water  or  the  escaping  steam.  Many  of  the  injured,  in 
their  agony,  fled  to  the  shore.  It  was  several  hours  before 
any  of  them  died  ;  nor  could  medical  relief  be  obtained 
until  a  boat,  which  had  been  despatched  from  Bloomington, 
returned  with  several  physicians  who  resided  at  that  place. 
At  ten  o'clock  that  night,  eight  hours  after  the  explosion, 
the  steamboat  "  Adventure,"  Captain  Van  Houten,  came  up 
with  the  wreck  and  took  it  in  tow  as  far  as  Bloomington. 

On  the  third  of  January,  1844,  the  entire  city  of  St.  Louis 
was  thrown  into  consternation  by  the  news  that  the  steam- 
boat "  Shepherdess  "  had  been  wrecked  in  Cahokia  Bend, 
only  three  miles  from  the  centre  of  the  city,  and  many  lives 
lost.  The  following  is  Captain  Gould's  account  of  this 
disaster: 

u  The  c  Shepherdess,'  while  ascending  the  Mississippi  River  on 
her  way  from  Cincinnati  to  St.  Louis,  and  at  eleven  o'clock  in  a 
dark  and  stormy  night,  struck  a  snag  just  above  the  mouth  of 
Cahokia  Creek.  The  concussion  was  very  severe,  and  it  is 
believed  that  several  planks  must  have  been  torn  from  the  bottom 
of  the  boat.  According  to  the  report  of  the  officers,  most  of  those 
who  were  in  the  gentlemen's  cabin  had  retired  to  their  berths ;  four 
or  five  gentlemen,  however,  were  sitting  up  by  the  stove,  as  it  was 
cold  Winter  weather.  The  ladies  were  generally  undressed  for 
the  night. 

"In  less  than  two  minutes  after  the  boat  struck,  the  water  rose 
to  the  lower  deck,  where  most  of  the  passengers  in  that  part  of  the 
boat  were  asleep.  The  captain,  who  was  on  duty,  ran  to  the  cabin 
occupied  by  the  ladies,  and  assured  them  that  there  was  no  danger; 
he  then  returned  to  the  forecastle,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been 
washed  overboard,  as  nothing  was  ever  seen  or  heard  of  him  after- 
wards. As  soon  as  the  shock  was  felt  on  board,  one  of  the  pilots 
attempted  to  descend  into  the  hold  for  the  purpose  of  examining 
the  leak,  but  he  had  scarcely  entered  when  the  rush  of  water  drove 
him  back. 


424  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

"  About  this  time  shrieks  and  exclamations  of  affright  and  dis- 
tress arose  from  the  deck  below,  and  several  ladies,  who  hastened 
to  the  stern  railing,  reported  that  they  saw  a  number  of  persons 
struggling  in  the  river.  Certain  it  is  that  the  water  rushed  in  with 
tremendous  rapidity,  and  before  three  minutes  had  elapsed  jt  had 
risen  to  the  floor  of  the  upper  cabin.  Some  of  those  persons  who 
were  on  deck  saved  themselves  by  getting  into  the  yawl,  which  was 
cut  loose  and  rowed  to  the  shore  with  a  broom.  The  water  rose 
so  rapidly  that  it  soon  became  necessary  for  all  to  seek  safety  on 
the  hurricane-deck.  This  position  was  not  attained  without  great 
difficulty,  for  the  bow  had  sunk  so  deep  in  the  water  that  the  only 
access  was  via  the  stern.  However,  it  is  believed  that  all  the 
people  from  the  cabin  succeeded  in  reaching  the  hurricane  roof. 
In  the  meanwhile  the  boat  was  drifting  down  the  stream,  and  a  few 
hundred  yards  below,  she  struck  another  snag  which  rose  above  the 
surface.  This  threw  the  steamer  nearly  on  her  beam  ends  on  the 
larboard  side.  Drifting  from  this  snag,  she  again  lurched  to  star- 
board. At  each  lurch  several  persons  were  washed  off;  some  of 
them  reached  the  shore,  but  many  were  drowned.  A  short  distance 
below,  just  above  the  first  shot-tower,  the  hull  struck  a  bluff  bank, 
which  again  careened  the  boat  nearly  on  her  side.  Here  the  hull 
and  cabin  parted  ;  the  former  sunk  and  lodged  on  a  bar  above  Caron- 
delet,  while  the  cabin  floated  down  to  the  point  of  the  bar  below 
that  place,  where  it  lodged  and  became  stationary. 

"  The  steamer  c  Henry  Bry  '  was  lying  at  the  shot-tower 
above  Carondelet,  and  as  the  cabin  passed,  the  captain  of  that 
vessel,  being  aroused  by  the  cries  of  the  passengers,  took  his  yawl 
to  their  rescue.  This  little  boat  could  only  take  off  a  few  at  a 
time,  but  by  the  strenuous  exertions  of  the  captain  of  the  l  Bry,' 
many  were  saved.  This  humane  gentleman  almost  sacrificed  him- 
self in  the  work  of  benevolence,  and  did  not  desist  until  he  was 
covered  with  a  mass  of  ice,  and  benumbed  to  that  degree  that 
further  effort  was  impossible.  About  three  o'clock  the  ferry-boat 
1  Icelander  '  came  down,  and  took  off  all  who  remained  in  the 
detached  cabin." 


In  1849,  at  a  t^me  when  cholera  was  raging  in  St.  Louis, 
thousands   being  struck   down  by  the   dread  scourge,  there 


THE  EARLY  STEAMBOAT  DAYS  425 

occurred  a  fire  on  the  river,  which  added  vastly  to  the  pre- 
vailing horror.  The  following  description  is  from  Scharf's 
"Sketch  Book": 

"  While  the  disease  was  raging  at  its  fiercest,  the  city  was 
doomed  to  another  horror — the  city  was  burnt  —  fifteen  squares 
were  laid  in  ashes.  The  fire  commenced  on  the  steamer  c  White 
Cloud,'  lying  between  Washington  and  Cherry  Streets.  The  wind 
was  blowing  fiercely  on  shore,  which  fact  contributed  materially  to 
the  extent  of  the  marine  disaster,  and  although  the  lines  of  all  the 
boats  were  cut  and  hauled  in,  and  they  shoved  out  into  the  current, 
the  burning  boat  seemed  to  outstrip  them  all,  with  the  speed  with 
which  she  floated  down  the  river;  and  in  perhaps  thirty  minutes 
after  the  fire  broke  out,  twenty-three  steamboats  had  been  aban- 
doned to  the  prey  of  the  flames,  and  a  half  a  million  dollars'  worth 
of  property  had  been  destroyed.  So  devastating  a  fire  had  never 
before  been  known  in  the  United  States. 

"  Fifteen  blocks  of  houses  were  burned  or  seriously  damaged, 
causing  the  loss  of  ten  million  dollars.  The  fire  was  finally  ex- 
tinguished by  blowing  up  several  houses  with  powder,  but  in  doing 
that,  several  lives  were  lost,  although  great  care  was  taken  to  give 
timely  warning.  The  list  of  sufferers  made  eight  or  ten  columns 
in  '  The  Missouri  Republican.'  " 

The  story  of  the  upper  river  navigation  can  be  given 
only  briefly,  as  it  has  had  few  historians,  and  left  little  detail 
on  record.  Here,  during  a  large  portion  of  the  year,  navi- 
gation is  difficult  and  uncertain,  being  obstructed  by  rapids 
and  low  water ;  nor  did  the  earlier  erected  bridges  detract 
from  the  danger.  The  first  bridge  across  the  Mississippi  was 
at  Rock  Island.  Gould  says: 

"  It  was  a  drawbridge,  and  built  without  any  legal  authority, 
simply  by  a  charter  from  the  State  of  Illinois.  It  was  commenced 
in  1853,  an(l  was  tne  most  dangerous  obstruction  to  navigation 
ever  constructed,  on  account  of  its  being  located  over  a  chain  of 
rocks,  producing  boils  and  cross  currents  which  were  difficult  to 
keep  a  boat  in.  Many  lives  were  lost  in  passing  through  the  draw, 
and  under  the  bridge,  and  many  rafts  were  broken  up.  One  fine 


426  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

steamboat,  the  4  Effa  Afton,'  was  sunk  and  a  large  number  of  lives 
lost.  An  effort  was  made  by  the  river  interests  to  have  the  bridge 
removed  as  an  illegal  structure  and  dangerous  to  navigation.  But 
such  was  the  persistency  of  the  proprietors,  they  defeated  every 
effort  in  the  several  courts  to  which  it  was  carried,  and  after  fight- 
ing the  bridge  for  more  than  ten  years  with  the  money  and  influence 
of  the  Merchants  Exchange,  of  St.  Louis,  as  well  as  that  of  many 
citizens  along  the  river,  and  the  best  legal  talent  that  could  be  em- 
ployed, the  bridge  remained  until  removed  by  Act  of  Congress  in 
1872,  when  by  a  sort  of  compromise  the  Government  built  another 
bridge  higher  up  the  river,  at  the  head  of  the  Island,  and  removed 
the  old  one." 

The  steamboat  lines  operating  north  of  St.  Louis  have 
been  numerous,  but  few  have  proven  successful  financially. 
The  "  Di  Vernon  "  was  the  first  boat  of  the  St.  Louis  and 
Keokuk  Packet  Company,  and  made  her  initial  trip  in  1842. 
A  few  years  later,  an  opposition  line  put  into  commission 
three  boats,  the  "  Swallow,"  the  "  Anthony  Wayne,"  and 
the  "  Edward  Bates."  The  intense  competition  resulting 
proved  the  ruin  of  both.  Others  followed  rapidly,  covering 
the  waters  of  the  entire  system  from  St.  Louis  to  St.  Paul ; 
but  perhaps  the  more  interesting  history  of  river  navigation 
was  previous  to  this  organization  of  companies,  those  earlier 
days  when  steamboating  was  purely  an  adventure.  A  well- 
known  river  writer  has  said: 

"  All  early  settlers,  as  well  as  the  old  boatmen,  will  remember 
the  4  Rosalie,'  Captain  Mike  Littleton ;  the  l  Quincy,'  Captain 
Cameron ;  the  c  Boreas,'  Captain  Fitheon ;  the  4  Knickbocker,' 
Captain  Gould,  and  many  others  long  since  forgotten. 

"  There  were  also  many  boats  running  above  the  rapids  from 
St.  Louis,  among  which  will  be  remembered  the  4  Warrior,'  Cap- 
tain Throckmorton  ;  the  c  Winnebago,'  Captain  Atchison ;  the 
4  Joe  Daviess,'  Captain  Scribe  Harris ;  the  4  Pizarro,'  Captain 
Smith  Harris ;  the  4  Rolla,'  Captain  Reynolds ;  the  c  Gypsy,' 
Captain  Gray;  the  4St.  Croix,'  Captain  Bersie;  the  4  Illinois,' 
Captain  McCalister ;  the  *  Rapids,'  Captain  Cole ;  the  4  Fulton,' 


THE  EARLY  STEAMBOAT  DAYS  427 

Captain  Orrin  Smith  ;  the  l  Brazil,'  the  l  Irene,'  the  c  lone,'  the 
1  Time  and  Tide,'  the  c  Falcon,'  the  *  St.  Peter,'  the  *  Montauk,' 
and  many  others." 

Steamboat  navigation  on  the  Illinois  River  was  some- 
what late  in  opening,  no  regular  line  being  in  operation 
previous  to  1835.  Among  boats  there  previous  to  this  date 
may  be  mentioned  the  "  Criterion  "  in  1828 ;  the  "  Orion  " 
and  the  "Express"  in  1832;  the  "Miner"  in  1833;  the 
"  Lady  Jackson,"  the  "  Wisconsin,"  the  "  Cold  Water," 
the  "Utility,"  the  "American,"  the  "Springfield,"  the 
"Champion,"  in  1834;  the  "  Banner,"  the  "  Winnebago," 
the  "  Adventure,"  the  "  Illinois,"  in  1835. 

In  Scharf's  "  History  of  St.  Louis  "  is  this  account  of 
early  Illinois  River  steamboats: 

"  The  steamboat  l  Ottawa '  was  the  first  boat  built  on  the  Illi- 
nois. She  was  constructed  in  part  at  Ottawa,  added  to  at  Peru, 
and  finished  at  St.  Louis.  She  was  of  the  very  lightest  draught, 
seventeen  inches,  and  had  a  powerful  engine ;  the  design  being  to 
take  two  keels  in  tow  in  low  water,  the  steamer  herself  being  light, 
so  that  whenever  there  was  seventeen  inches  of  water  on  the  bars 
she  would  be  able  to  reach  St.  Louis  with  one  hundred  tons  of 
freight  weekly.  Her  length  was  one  hundred  feet,  breadth  twenty 
feet,  and  the  cabin  laid  off  entirely  in  staterooms.  The  owners 
resided  in  Ottawa.  There  is  no  date  by  which  to  determine  the 
appearance  of  this  specimen  of  marine  architecture.  It  must, 
however,  have  been  pretty  early,  as  none  of  the  present  generation 
of  4  old  boatmen  '  know  anything  of  the  c  towboat '  4  Ottawa.'  ' 

"As  early  as  1844,"  says  Gould,  "Captain  Samuel  Rider,  one 
of  the  most  mechanical  and  inventive  boatmen  ever  on  the  Illinois 
River,  built  at  Griggsville  landing,  a  sort  of  nondescript  boat  he 
called  4  Olitippa,'  which  was  propelled  by  horses  upon  an  endless 
chain.  The  boat  had  no  cabin  or  cargo-box,  and  the  hold  was  too 
shallow  to  stow  freight  in.  She  was  designed  expressly  to  carry 
freight  in  low  water,  which,  of  course,  had  to  be  stowed  on  the 
main  deck,  as  she  had  no  other ;  and  the  cook,  the  officers,  and  the 
men  occupied  the  same  location.  The  clerk's  office  was  carried 


428  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

in  the  captain's  hat,  and  as  there  were  but  few  ladies  travelling  on 
the  Illinois  at  that  early  day,  a  chambermaid  was  dispensed  with. 
Later  on,  when  accidents  on  the  rivers  were  more  frequent  from 
fires  and  bursting  of  boilers,  the  l  Olitippa  '  would  doubtless  have 
become  very  popular,  as  but  little  apprehension  could  have  been 
felt  from  either  cause  on  her.  She  proved  to  be  what  she  was 
designed  for,  a  light-draught  boat  (only  ten  inches)  for  the  Illinois 
River.  But  when  she  drifted  out  of  her  home  element  into  the 
strong  currents  of  the  Mississippi,  she  was  at  sea  without  a  rudder, 
or  without  power  to  avoid  snags  or  ice-shores." 

It  is  impossible  to  dismiss  this  subject  without  some  ref- 
erence to  the  river  floods  which  from  time  to  time  have 
swept  the  Mississippi  Valley.  The  first  authentic  account 
of  the  American  Bottom  being  submerged  is  that  of  the  flood 
in  1724.  A  document  is  to  be  seen  in  the  archives  of  Kaskas- 
kia,  which  consists  of  a  petition  to  the  crown  of  France  in 
1725,  for  a  grant  of  land  in  which  the  damage  sustained 
the  year  before  is  mentioned.  The  villagers  were  driven  to 
the  bluffs  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Kaskaskia  River. 
Their  gardens  and  crops  were  destroyed,  and  their  buildings 
and  property  much  injured.  We  have  no  evidence  of  its 
exact  height,  but  the  whole  American  Bottom  was  sub- 
merged. This  was  probably  in  June. 

In  1772,  Fort  Chartres  was  destroyed  by  a  sudden  rise 
of  waters,  but  from  1785  to  1811  there  were  no  destructive 
floods,  although  an  occasional  overflow  proved  sufficient 
to  fill  the  lake  and  low  grounds  on  the  American  Bottom. 
This  was  in  the  year  preceding  the  great  "  shakes,"  as  the 
earthquakes  were  called.  The  river  began  rising  at  St. 
St.  Louis  early  in  May,  and  by  the  fifteenth  it  had  spread 
over  a  large  portion  of  the  American  Bottom,  but  by  the 
first  of  June  it  was  out  of  its  banks  only  in  low  places.  On 
the  sixth  it  again  began  to  rise,  and  continued  to  increase  in 
volume  until  the  fourteenth,  when  it  came  to  a  stand  ;  the 
greater  part  of  the  bottom,  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  Prairie 


THE  EARLY  STEAMBOAT  DAYS  429 

du  Pont,  Cautine,  and  nearly  all  the  settlements  along  the 
low  lands  were  under  water,  and  the  inhabitants  had  fled  to 
the  high  bluffs.  The  "  common  fields"  at  St.  Genevieve 
were  entirely  submerged  ;  the  corn  was  nearly  covered. 

A  story  is  still  told  by  the  old  inhabitants  of  the  village, 
that  the  panic-stricken  people  appealed  to  Father  Maxwell, 
the  village  priest,  to  "  pray  away  the  water."  It  is  said  he 
gave  no  encouragement  at  first,  until  the  water  came  to  a 
stand.  Then  he  proposed  to  the  people  to  drive  off  the 
water  by  saying  masses.  This  they  did,  and  as  the  water 
fell  rapidly,  the  ground  was  soon  dry,  and  a  fine  crop  of 
corn  was  raised,  which  was  divided  with  the  priest  in  con- 
formity to  the  agreement  for  saying  the  masses. 

In  1826,  and  at  irregular  times  since,  the  water  has  risen 
very  high  and  wrought  much  danger,  not  only  to  settlers 
along  the  Illinois  shore,  but  to  steamboats  navigating  the 
rivers. 


CHAPTER   XXX 

THE    COMING   OF   THE   RAILROAD 

THE  line  of  special  demarcation  between  the  days  of  the 
frontier  and  modern  conditions  is  very  easily  traceable 
in  Illinois  history.  The  old  and  the  new  stand  distinct  and 
apart,  divided  by  that  wizard,  steam,  whose  long  lines  of 
gleaming  rails  now  gridiron  the  State.  While  various  other 
causes  undoubtedly  contributed  toward  this  same  result, 
and  every  influence  of  growth  and  prosperity  tended  toward 
permanent  advancement,  yet  it  was  the  coming  of  the  rail- 
way which  immediately  achieved  this  purpose.  Under  the 
magic  of  its  extension,  barter  became  commerce,  and  petty 
trade  between  neighbors  grew  into  a  world-wide  exchange 
of  commodities;  population  came  in  fast-increasing  throngs, 
no  longer  deterred  by  the  hardships  of  wilderness  travel. 
These  brought  with  them  wealth,  refinement,  the  enterprise 
of  financial  exploitation ;  isolated  settlements  grew  into 
pleasant  towns,  while  many  of  these,  favored  by  situation 
or  the  consolidation  of  wealth,  pressed  swiftly  forward  into 
great  and  important  cities.  On  all  sides,  land  long  lying 
vacant  found  occupants,  venturesome  souls  pressing  out 
into  the  wide  prairie  stretches,  encouraged  to  believe  that 
within  a  few  years,  at  most,  the  favoring  railway  would  ex- 
tend its  iron  bands  as  a  reward  for  their  patient  toil.  The 
East  became  linked  to  the  West,  and  an  impetus  was  thus 
given  to  every  form  of  commercial  life  which  made  of  Illinois 
one  of  the  great  States  of  the  Union  ;  her  struggling  child- 
hood had  passed  away  forever,  her  years  of  fair  woman- 
hood begun. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  trace  the  winding  path  leading  up 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  RAILROAD  431 

to  this  consummation  of  all  that  the  hardy  pioneers  dreamed 
of,  but  it  is  sometimes  hard  to  conceive  the  reasons  why  cer- 
tain steps  were  taken  along  the  devious  course  of  legislation 
leading  thereto, —  the  mistakes,  the  failures,  the  wild  visionaiy 
schemes  fluttering  on  every  side,  the  fierce  opposition  offered 
to  what  we  now  know  to  have  been  wise,  the  party  strife  that 
retarded,  the  jealousy  of  cities  and  of  political  leaders  con- 
tinually blocking  the  way.  We  can  only  remember  that  these 
walked  in  darkness,  whereas  we  stand  in  light,  and  remain 
charitable  alike  to  the  mistakes  made  and  the  ill  judgment 
shown.  The  end  was  inevitable,  and  in  spite  of  opposition 
won  slowly  to  the  final  betterment  of  the  State. 

We  will  not  attempt  here  to  trace  this  movement  in  great 
detail,  but  content  ourselves  with  making  its  more  salient  and 
picturesque  steps  reasonably  clear,  and  in  this  will  follow 
largely  the  facts  as  stated  by  Davidson  and  Stuve.  In  1826 
the  first  railroad  in  the  United  States,  connecting  Albany 
and  Schenectady  in  New  York,  was  built.  Its  successful 
operation  instantly  fired  the  imagination  of  the  ambitious 
men  of  that  period.  It  promised  to  work  a  sudden  revolu- 
tion in  all  commercial  affairs,  and  there  early  began  an  era 
of  road-building  which  is  even  yet  far  from  having  reached 
its  limit.  Far-seeing  men  in  Illinois  at  once  perceived  its 
value  for  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  State,  and 
took  steps  toward  this  attainment.  The  State,  at  the  time, 
was  peculiarly  isolated,  and  necessarily  provincial,  her  only 
communication  with  the  East  being  by  means  of  river  or 
lake,  or  through  a  long,  wearisome  journey  by  wagon  over- 
land. The  scattered  settlements  within  her  borders,  some 
few  already  budding  into  small  but  ambitious  cities,  were 
connected  by  rudely  constructed  earth  roads,  over  which 
rolled  the  occasional  stage-coach,  or  the  heavily  laden  wagon. 
Travelling  was  mostly  on  horseback.  Under  these  condi- 
tions, trade  must  remain  extremely  limited,  commerce  in 
its  wider  meaning  unknown,  and  development  of  resources 


432  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

extremely  slow.  The  railroad  promised  immediate  relief 
for  all  these  existing  evils,  and  even  dull  minds  felt  the  call 
for  united  action. 

As  early  as  1836,  the  matter  was  brought  formally  be- 
fore the  legislature  for  consideration,  during  the  administra- 
tion of  Governor  Duncan.  As  is  apt  to  be  the  case  in  times 
of  popular  enthusiasm,  so  much  was  undertaken,  consider- 
ing the  then  impoverished  condition  of  the  treasury  and  the 
sparseness  of  population,  and  consequent  meagreness  of 
revenue,  that  the  entire  project  naturally  died  from  lack 
of  nourishment.  It  is  interesting  to  read  the  numerous 
theories  advanced  at  that  period,  as  to  the  probable  cost  of 
railway  construction,  and  the  wonderful  benefits  which 
would  immediately  accrue  to  the  people  and  to  the  State 
treasury.  Each  legislator  had  apparently  discovered  an 
Aladdin's  lamp  with  which  he  proposed  to  illumine  the  sur- 
rounding regions.  The  railroads  laid  out  at  this  time  — 
and  for  the  construction  of  which  money  was  actually  voted 
in  the  form  of  bonds,  with  commissioners  appointed  to  bor- 
row on  the  credit  of  the  State  —  were  known  as  the  Central 
Railroad,  outlined  to  extend  from  Cairo  to  the  Illinois  and 
Michigan  Canal ;  railroads  from  Alton  to  Mount  Carmel 
(called  Southern  Cross  Road),  and  Alton  to  Shawneetown  ; 
the  Northern  Cross  Road  from  Quincv  to  the  Indiana  State 
line  (the  modern  Toledo,  Wabash,  and  Western  Railroad), 
together  with  various  branches  to  nearly  every  important 
town  in  the  State;  while  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  was 
graciously  voted  as  an  olive  branch  to  those  few  counties 
whose  claims  to  recognition  in  railroad-building  might  have 
been  overlooked.  Altogether,  the  then  magnificent  sum  of 
$5,850,000  was  thus  appropriated  for  railroad-building, 
while  an  equally  generous  amount  was  set  aside  for  river 
and  other  improvements,  made  necessary  by  such  railway 
construction.  But  even  this  amount  was  soon  discovered 
to  be  not  half  large  enough  to  carry  out  the  work  as  pro- 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  RAILROAD  433 

posed.  Illinois  then  had  a  census  population  of  271,727; 
the  taxable  wealth  of  the  State  three  years  later  was  only 
$58,889,525,  and  yet  her  legislators  deliberately  assumed, 
on  her  behalf,  an  expenditure  of  $20,000,000  ! 

However,  this  "  grand  system  "  fell  by  its  own  weight, 
and,  with  the  exception  of  a  part  of  the  Northern  Cross 
Railroad,  the  work,  which  was  begun  simultaneously  in 
various  portions  of  the  State,  came  to  no  more  than  a  few 
excavations  and  embankments,  some  of  which  still  remain 
as  curiosities  in  their  neighborhoods.  The  portion  of  the 
Northern  Cross  Road,  leading  from  Meredosia  to  Spring- 
field, was  actually  completed  at  a  cost  to  the  State  of  one  mil- 
lion dollars;  but  its  income  proved  insufficient  to  keep  it  in 
repair,  and  it  was  subsequently  sold  for  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  in  State  indebtedness.  Of  this  road,  some  eight 
miles  of  track  was  laid  in  1838,  running  from  Meredosia 
east,  the  first  rail  being  laid  May  9.  The  first  locomotive 
that  ever  turned  a  wheel  in  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
marking  the  dawn  of  a  new  era,  was  operated  over  this  track, 
November  8,  1838.  George  W.  Plant,  later  a  successful 
merchant  of  St.  Louis,  officiated  as  engineer.  The  locomo- 
tive ran  the  distance  of  eight  miles  and  back,  carrying,  as 
passengers,  Governor  Duncan,  Murray  McConnel,  one  of 
the  public  commissioners,  two  of  the  contractors,  and  the 
Chief  Engineer  of  the  road,  George  P.  Plant.  This  occurred 
only  twelve  years  later  than  the  first  railroad  in  the  United 
States  was  operated;  but  now  there  followed  a  necessary 
pause.  For  the  next  twelve  years  nothing  was  accomplished, 
and  for  the  best  of  reasons, —  money  was  lacking,  and  even 
the  State  herself  trembled  on  the  brink  of  repudiation. 
Everything  seemed  to  fall  upon  her  at  once,  the  collapse  of 
the  internal  improvement  system,  the  suspension  of  banks, 
and  a  depreciated  currency,  until  the  total  State  debt  attained 
to  the  vast  amount  of  $14,666,562.42.  But  in  1850  the 
Chicago  and  Galena  road  was  completed  by  private  capital 


434  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

as  far  as  Elgin,  and  from  that  date  there  distinctly  dawned 
upon  the  State  the  great  railroad  era  which  has  since  cov- 
ered Illinois  with  a  complicated  network  of  these  iron  arteries 
of  commerce,  affording  rapid  and  easy  communication  with 
almost  every  county. 

During  this  period  the  impoverished  condition  of  the 
State  treasury  and  the  sparseness  of  population,  and  conse- 
quent lack  of  taxable  property,  were  not  altogether  respon- 
sible for  the  slowness  of  railroad  development  and  exploita- 
tion. It  resulted  rather  from  what  has  since  been  known 
as  "  State  policy,"  arising  from  the  narrow  dullness  of  cer- 
tain politicians,  and  originating  in  the  commercial  rivalry 
of  several  ambitious  Illinois  towns,  of  which  Alton  was 
the  most  conspicuous.  Outside  capital  and  enterprise  were 
eager  enough  to  invade  the  Illinois  field,  yet,  almost  without 
exception,  the  plans  of  such  projected  railroads  led  directly 
across  the  State,  with  their  eastern  termini  in  Indiana,  at 
either  Vincennes  or  Terre  Haute,  and  reaching  westward 
to  St.  Louis,  in  Missouri.  This  did  not  look  right  to  the 
average  Illinoisan  of  that  region,  as  such  a  condition  must 
inevitably  result  in  the  building  up  of  important  cities  just 
beyond  the  State  limits,  to  the  deterioration  of  local  points. 
Moreover,  a  wider  argument  was  urged,  that  by  this  scheme 
Illinois'  commerce  would  be  largely  diverted  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  foreign  governments,  to  her  own  manifest  detri- 
ment. Practically  every  town  in  central  and  southern 
Illinois  united  in  the  determination  to  defeat  such  charters. 
Vast  mass-meetings  were  held,  especially  at  Salem  and 
Hillsboro,  in  the  Summer  and  Fall  of  1849,  to  discuss  the 
situation.  At  the  latter,  it  is  said,  twelve  thousand  people 
were  present;  the  principles  of  "  State  policy  "  were  en- 
thusiastically endorsed,  and  every  possible  precaution  taken 
to  prevent  foreign  railroad  companies  from  invading  the 
sacred  soil  of  the  State  —  unless  they  would  agree  to  make 
a  terminus  on  Illinois  territory. 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  RAILROAD  435 

This  short-sighted,  and  indeed  blind,  policy  no  doubt 
considerably  retarded  the  development  of  Illinois,  and  cer- 
tainly called  down  upon  her  legislators  the  most  sarcastic 
comments  of  other  States,  whose  newspapers  characterized 
such  a  course  as  selfish,  narrow,  and  contemptible,  a  re- 
enacting  of  the  fable  of  the  dog  in  the  manger.  But  the  Alton 
influence  continued  to  control  the  politicians  and  a  majority 
of  the  people  until  the  administration  of  Governor  French, 
when  the  more  healthy  condition  of  the  State  treasury  put  a 
somewhat  different  aspect  on  internal  affairs.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  Governor  Ford's  administration  in  1842,  it 
was  officially  announced  that  there  was  not  money  enough 
in  the  State  treasury  to  pay  postage  on  a  letter.  Everything 
was  almost  at  a  standstill  in  point  of  revenue  ;  there  were 
whole  counties  containing  scarcely  more  than  a  log  cabin 
within  their  boundaries,  and  only  six  small  cities  (really  no 
more  than  towns)  in  the  State, —  Chicago,  Alton,  Spring- 
field, Quincy,  Galena,  and  Nauvoo.  The  State  had  bor- 
rowed itself  out  of  all  credit,  and  there  was  not  good  money 
enough  in  the  hands  of  all  the  people  to  pay  the  interest  of 
the  debt  for  a  single  year.  But  Illinois  proved  an  infant 
Hercules  slumbering  in  the  cradle,  and  under  the  fostering 
care  of  Governors  Ford  and  French,  began  to  exhibit  its 
true  strength. 

During  this  period  a  new  loan  was  floated,  amounting  to 
$1,600,000,  that  was  used  to  complete  the  Illinois  and  Michi- 
gan Canal,  which  now  began  to  yield  an  annual  revenue  in 
tolls;  canal  lands  worth  half  a  million  dollars  were  sold  far 
above  the  appraisement;  three-fifths  of  the  one-and-a-half- 
mill  tax  authorized  in  1845  now  Pa^  twelve  dollars  out  of 
every  sixty  dollars  of  annually  accruing  interest ;  and  if  the 
two-mill  tax,  authorized  by  the  new  constitution,  could  have 
been  diverted  in  that  way,  the  whole  annual  interest  on  the 
internal  improvement  debt  proper  could  have  been  paid. 
Auditor's  warrants  were  worth  ninety-five  cents  on  the  dollar, 


436  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

such  was  the  improved  condition  brought  about  by  rigid 
economy,  and  a  thorough  system  of  retrenchment  under 
the  new  constitution.  The  infant  Hercules  began  to  sit  up 
and  look  around.  The  Legislature  of  1851  again  took  hold 
of  railroad  measures,  and  in  a  better  spirit  than  had  char- 
acterized its  predecessors.  But  the  benumbing  incubus 
of  "  State  policy  "  was  not,  even  yet,  entirely  shaken  off, 
and  nothing  definite  was  accomplished  except  the  granting 
of  a  charter  to  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Company.  This, 
however,  was  a  good  beginning,  and  much  of  the  credit 
must  be  given  Senator  Douglas,  whose  frank  letter  on  the 
subject  exercised  wide  influence  throughout  the  State.  In 
this  he  said  that  if  he  were  a  legislator  he  would  certainly 
grant  a  charter  for  the  proposed  road  from  Illinoistown  to 
Terre  Haute,  and  also  to  Vincennes,  and  to  other  lines  across 
the  State  when  any  considerable  portion  of  the  people  de- 
sired it.  He  would  give  a  preference  to  the  towns  and 
cities  of  Illinois  where  it  could  be  done  without  injury  or  in- 
justice to  others,  but  he  would  never  sacrifice  the  great 
agricultural  interests  for  the  benefit  of  a  much  smaller  interest 
in  the  towns.  The  country  was  not  made  for  the  towns, 
but  the  towns  for  the  convenience  of  the  country.  This 
sensible  advice  not  only  exercised  an  immediate  influence, 
but  also  contributed  largely  to  further  future  action. 

Toward  the  conclusion  of  this  controversy,  which  con- 
tinued until  the  special  Legislature  of  1853,  the  efforts  of 
those  interested  in  "  State  policy  "  centred  entirely  upon 
the  defeat  of  the  proposed  charter  for  the  Atlantic  and  Mis- 
sissippi Railroad,  known  as  the  "  Brough  Road,"  projected 
from  Terre  Haute  via  Vandalia  to  St.  Louis.  This  was 
fought  with  exceeding  bitterness.  But  these  efforts  failed, 
and  "  State  policy  "  disappeared  forever  from  Illinois  poli- 
tics. To  show  to  what  extremes  its  advocates  were  willing 
to  go,  Joseph  Gillespie,  the  special  champion  of  the  Alton 
interests,  introduced  a  bill  into  the  Senate  in  1853,  by  which 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  RAILROAD  437 

all  existing  chartered  railroad  corporations  were  to  be  pro- 
tected for  ten  years  against  the  building  of  any  competing 
roads  within  twenty-five  miles,  unless  existing  corporations 
first  consented  thereto.  To  quote  Davidson  and  Stuve: 

"  This  amazing  proposition  was  a  fit  climax  to  all  the  mon- 
strous, absurd,  and  pernicious  schemes  of  the  l  State  Policy  '  party. 
While  many  of  the  other  States  of  the  Union,  animated  by  a  noble 
spirit  of  enterprise,  were  removing  legal  obstructions,  and  instead 
adopting  broad  and  liberal  railroad  incorporation  laws,  throwing 
wide  open  their  borders,  and  inviting  capital  from  abroad  to  build 
railroads  and  create  competition  wherever  it  inclined,  it  was  coolly 
proposed  in  the  great  State  of  Illinois,  which  needed  development 
very  badly,  to  draw  a  cordon  of  exclusiveness  around  her  borders, 
and  within  to  combine  with  soulless  corporations  in  the  monopoly 
of  all  improvements,  and  hand  over  to  them,  bound  by  the  strong 
cords  of  the  law,  the  people  of  the  State  to  be  fleeced  without 
stint." 

The  bill  failed  to  become  a  law. 

But  the  one  happening  which,  occurring  at  exactly  the 
proper  moment,  turned  the  current  of  popular  approval  in 
the  right  direction  was  the  magnificent  donation  of  some 
three  million  acres  of  land  by  Act  of  Congress  to  the  State 
as  security  for  the  building  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad. 
This  was  in  September,  1850.  The  final  passage  of  the 
measure,  after  two  previous  defeats,  was  hailed  with  dem- 
onstrations of  great  joy  by  the  people  and  the  press.  Almost 
immediately  Illinois  Internal  Improvement  bonds  made  an 
advance  of  ten  per  cent  in  the  New  York  market.  The  total 
railroad  mileage  in  the  State  at  that  time  was  insignificant, 
consisting  merely  of  a  small  section  of  the  Northern  Cross 
Road,  from  Meredosia  and  Naples,  on  the  Illinois  River,  to 
Springfield  ;  the  Chicago  and  Galena,  from  the  former  city 
as  far  as  Elgin  ;  and  a  six-mile  coal  track  across  the  American 
Bottom  from  opposite  St.  Louis  to  the  mines  in  the  bluffs. 
The  first  ten  miles  of  the  Chicago  and  Galena  (which  since 


438  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

1865  has  been  consolidated  with  the  Chicago  and  North 
Western  Railway)  was  finished  from  Chicago  to  Harlem, 
December  30,  1848,  and  completed  to  the  Mississippi  River, 
at  Fulton,  in  December,  1855.  It  was  the  first  railroad  turn- 
ing a  locomotive  wheel  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  the  first 
to  connect  the  commerce  of  the  Mississippi  with  that  of  the 
Lakes  —  the  dream  of  a  generation  at  last  fulfilled. 

The  act  by  which  the  general  Government  thus  made 
possible  the  immediate  building  of  the  Illinois  Central, 
granted  a  right  of  way  for  the  railroad  through  the  public 
lands  the  width  of  two  hundred  feet,  from  the  southern  ter- 
minus of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  at  La  Salle,  to  a 
point  at  or  near  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Rivers,  and  for  branches  to  Chicago  and  Galena.  But  the 
main  grant  to  the  State,  which  enabled  this  gigantic  work  to 
be  undertaken  without  delay,  was  the  alternate  sections  of 
land,  designated  by  even  numbers  for  six  sections  deep,  on 
each  side  of  its  trunk  or  branches.  The  road  was  to  be  begun 
simultaneously  at  its  northern  and  southern  termini,  and 
completed  within  ten  years.  The  minimum  price  of  the  odd- 
numbered  sections,  which  remained  in  Government  owner- 
ship, was  raised  from  $i  .25  to  $2.50  per  acre.  The  entire 
body  of  land  was  taken  out  of  market  for  two  years,  and  when 
restored  in  the  Fall  of  1852,  it,  in  fact,  brought  an  average 
of  $5.00  per  acre.  So,  while  the  public  lands  were  thus 
by  the  prospect  of  the  building  of  the  road  rendered  more 
salable,  and  at  a  much  higher  price,  and  the  Government 
not  only  lost  nothing  in  dollars  and  cents  but  in  both  time 
and  cash  gained  largely,  the  gift  was,  nevertheless,  a  splen- 
did one,  and  resulted  in  almost  measureless  benefit  to  the 
State. 

The  point  of  departure  of  the  Chicago  branch  from  the 
main  line  was  not  fixed  in  the  act, —  an  omission  which  re- 
sulted in  much  contention.  Many  worthy  and  ambitious 
towns  came  at  once  into  bitter  competition.  La  Salle  was 


w 

CO 

O 

X 


c^ 
O 


^     5 


h 

CO 

O 


CO 

p 

0 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  RAILROAD  439 

eager  for  it ;  Bloomington,  already  figuring  on  a  continuation 
of  the  old  Alton  and  Sangamon  (now  the  Chicago  and  Alton), 
wished  this  Chicago  connection  badly  ;  while  Shelbyville, 
which  was  a  point  on  the  old  original  central  survey,  and 
never  dreamed  of  being  left  off  the  main  line,  entered  the 
contest  for  the  branch  also,  and  lost  both.  But  the  company, 
in  their  location  of  a  route,  took  little  consideration  of  any- 
thing except  to  run  their  line  wherever  there  was  the  largest 
amount  of  vacant  land  which  could  be  brought  within  the 
limits  of  the  Government  grant.  This  proved  the  controlling 
influence,  both  regarding  the  main  trunk  and  the  branches. 
The  Legislature  spent  much  time  in  dealing  with  the  various 
questions  naturally  arising  under  so  important  a  grant,  es- 
pecially as  to  the  projected  route,  and  the  place  for  beginning 
the  branch  to  Chicago.  Nothing  very  definite  was  reached, 
and  the  point  of  divergence  was  finally  left  with  the  company 
to  be  situated  anywhere  "  north  of  the  parallel  of  thirty-nine 
degrees,  thirty  minutes,  of  north  latitude."  The  point  se- 
lected is  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Clinton.  Regarding 
the  main  stem,  the  decision  was  but  little  less  definite,  the 
only  point  fixed  being  the  northeast  corner  of  Township  21 
North,  Range  2  East,  third  Principal  Meridian,  from 
which  the  road  should  not  vary  in  its  general  course  more 
than  five  miles.  This  made  it  reasonably  certain  that  the 
main  line  would  pass  through  the  towns  of  Clinton,  Decatur, 
and  Bloomington.  Without  taking  time  to  dwell  upon  the 
numerous  schemes  with  which  speculators,  eager  to  gain  by 
this  tremendous  transaction,  flooded  the  Legislature  ;  the 
many  bills  introduced,  a  few  valuable,  the  most  bad  ;  or 
the  rather  tiresome  details  of  legislative  action  over  matters 
of  minor  importance, —  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  all  legal  ob- 
stacles having  been  finally  overcome,  in  March,  1852,  the  con- 
tracts for  construction  were  let,  and  the  work  went  rapidly 
forward,  without  further  serious  interruption.  Dunleith  was 
reached  June  12,  1855,  and  Chicago,  September  26,  1856. 


440  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

But  alas,  for  the  best  interests  of  the  State,  the  Legislature 
had  voted  all  this  valuable  concession  out  of  public  control 
and  ownership  into  the  hands  of  a  syndicate  of  capitalists! 
It  gave  them  the  use  of  the  donated  land  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  the  necessary  funds  for  carrying  out  the  project,  and 
accepted  in  return  their  pledge  of  an  annual  payment  of  in- 
terest from  the  gross  earnings  of  the  road.  The  men  to 
whom  this  great  concession  was  made,  and  who  later  formed 
the  company  that  built  the  road,  were  Robert  Schuyler, 
George  Griswold,  Gouverneur  Morris,  Jonathan  Sturgis, 
George  W.  Ludlow,  and  John  F.  A.  Sanford,  of  the  city  of 
New  York;  and  David  A.  Neal,  Franklin  Haven,  and  Robert 
Rantoul,  Jr.,  of  Boston.  To  quote  again  the  pertinent  lan- 
guage of  Davidson  and  Stuve: 

44  This  work  was  one  of  the  most  stupendous  and  ingenious 
speculations  of  modern  times.  By  means  of  it  a  few  sagacious 
capitalists  became  the  owners  of  a  first-class  railroad,  more  than 
seven  hundred  miles  long,  in  full  running  order,  complete  in  rolling- 
stock  and  every  equipage,  and  millions  of  acres  of  land,  worth  in 
the  aggregate  perhaps  $40,000,000,  without  the  actual  outlay  of  a 
cent  of  their  own  money.  This  project  was  among  the  first  to 
illustrate  the  immense  field  there  was  opening  up  in  this  country 
for  bold  and  gigantic  railroad  operations  by  capitalists;  and  as  con- 
trasted with  the  State  Internal  Improvement  scheme  of  1836—37, 
it  was  furthermore  an  example  of  the  superiority  of  private  enter- 
prise over  State  or  governmental  undertakings.  The  State  at  that 
time,  with  a  population  of  about  350,000,  mostly  small  farmers, 
authorized  a  loan  exceeding  $10,000,000,  to  construct  public 
works.  One  of  these  was  the  Central  Railroad,  upon  which  a 
considerable  sum  was  expended.  Hard  times  and  a  general  collapse 
followed  in  rapid  order.  Now,  with  this  grant  of  land  from  the 
general  Government  (not  far  short  of  3,000,000  acres  within  a 
belt  of  fifteen  miles  along  the  route  of  the  road)  to  aid  ;its  con- 
struction, these  gentlemen,  backed  by  credit  and  capital,  step  for- 
ward, propose  to  take  the  lands  and  build  the  road,  which  is  to 
belong  to  them  when  built.  The  State  accepts  the  offer,  incorpo- 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  RAILROAD  441 

rates  the  gentlemen's  scheme  by  perpetual  charter,  and  endows 
them  with  this  munificent  domain  and  all  the  property  and  remains 
of  the  old  Central  road.  After  the  road  is  put  in  operation,  the 
company  pays  the  State  annually  seven  per  centum  of  its  gross 
earnings  in  lieu  of  all  taxes  for  ever.  Having  acquired  a  vested 
right,  the  State  has  no  other  than  police  control  over  the  company, 
and  as  it  is  a  foreign  corporation,  disputes  between  them  must  be 
settled  in  foreign,  i.e.,  United  States  courts.  The  minimum  valu- 
ation of  lands  acquired,  so  soon  as  the  road  should  be  completed, 
was  $20,000,000,  exceeding  by  $6,000,000  the  cost  of  the  road, 
estimated  at  $20,000  per  mile ;  which,  in  Illinois,  was  liberal, 
because  she  presented  the  most  uniform  and  favorable  surface  for 
the  construction  of  railroads  of  any  other  State  in  the  Union. 
Two-thirds  of  the  land  was  stipulated  as  security  for  the  principal 
of  the  construction  bonds,  250,000  acres  to  secure  the  interest 
fund,  and  the  remainder  as  a  contingent  fund.  The  construction 
bonds  found  ready  sale  at  par,  and  built  the  road.  The  land  sales 
yielded  interest  to  set  off  in  part  the  accruing  interest  on  the  bonds. 
The  redemption  of  the  bonds  completed,  the  road  and  all  its 
appurtenances  remain  the  property  of  the  fortunate  gentlemen 
who  had  the  sagacity  to  see  how  it  could  be  built  without  costing 
them  a  cent. 

"But  they  did  not  reap  all  the  developed  benefits  of  this  grand 
enterprise.  The  alternate  sections  of  land  reserved  by  the  Federal 
Government  within  fifteen  miles  of  the  route  of  the  road,  numbered 
as  many  acres  as  the  grant  to  the  State ;  it  had  been  for  twenty-odd 
years  in  market  at  $1.25  per  acre  without  sale,  but  now  when  again 
put  in  the  market  in  the  Fall  of  1852,  it  was  eagerly  taken  up  and 
readily  brought  from  three  to  seven  dollars  per  acre,  and  more,  had 
not  settlers  and  speculators  combined  not  to  bid  against  each  other. 
As  it  was,  the  sales  averaged  five  dollars  per  acre.  The  Govern- 
ment thus  realized  a  profit  of  some  $9,000,000  by  its  munificent 
policy  of  giving  away  half  its  land  in  this  locality.  This  was 
indeed  casting  bread  upon  the  water,  which  after  many  days, 
returned  several  fold. 

u  But,  besides  the  general  Government,  the  State,  too,  was  at 
the  same  time  benefited  by  having  its  unsettled  interior  opened  up  to 
tides  of  thronging  immigrants,  its  rich  soil  brought  into  cultivation, 


442  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

population  increased,  and  its  resources  and  taxable  wealth  augmented 
by  many  millions  of  dollars.  The  products  of  the  newly  developed 
region  found  a  ready  avenue  to  the  markets  of  the  world.  Chicago, 
too,  was  thus  furnished  with  another  iron  tentaculum  to  reach  far 
into  the  interior  of  the  State  for  commercial  food  to  give  increase  to 
her  marvellous  life.  But  the  greatest  immediate  benefit  resulting 
from  the  building  of  the  road  and  branches  accrued  to  the  lands 
within  due  and  proper  marketing  distance  of  the  lines,  estimated  at 
the  enormous  amount  of  ten  million  acres  in  private  hands." 


CHAPTER   XXXI 
HISTORIC  SPOTS  AS  THEY  APPEAR  TO-DAY 

TO  one  seeking  those  spots  throughout  Illinois  hallowed 
by  historical  associations,  there  must  come  more  often 
disappointment  than  pleasure.  Many  will  be  found  im- 
possible to  locate,  even  with  the  most  diligent  research  and 
the  aid  of  a  vivid  imagination  ;  others  are  uncertain,  so  ob- 
scured by  the  haze  of  years  and  less  important  occurrences 
as  to  divide  local  investigators  into  hostile  camps  ;  while, 
nearly  without  exception,  the  almost  criminal  neglect  of  a 
great  State  regarding  the  proper  preservation  of  these  memo- 
rials of  important  historic  happenings  brings  a  tinge  of  sad- 
ness to  all  who  reverence  the  great  names  and  deeds  of  the 
past.  Illinois  history  has  been  crowded  with  events  well 
worthy  of  perpetual  remembrance,  events  stirring  and  heroic, 
tinged  by  romance;  events  having  vital  bearing  not  only 
upon  the  State,  but  the  nation,  of  far  too  great  importance  to 
be  lost  in  the  haze  of  the  careless  years. 

From  1813,  for  a  period  of  at  least  twenty-five  years, 
Shawneetown  situated  on  the  Ohio  River  but  a  few  miles 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash,  ranked  as  the  most  impor- 
tant city  of  the  Territory  and  State,  the  chosen  home  of  wealth 
and  refinement,  the  social  and  political  centre,  and  the  resi- 
dence of  men  who  carved  their  names  deeply  upon  the  rock 
of  Western  history.  In  an  out-of-the-way  corner,  not  easily 
accessible  to  the  ordinary  traveller  of  to-day,  few  realize  the 
abiding  interest  which  yet  invests  this  old  town,  and  yields 
to  it  a  peculiar  atmosphere  of  the  earlier  days.  Generations 
have  come  and  gone  since  Eddy,  Marshall,  McLean,  and 
hundreds  of  others  scarcely  less  famous  or  worthy,  walked 

443 


444  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

these  shaded  streets  in  the  long  ago,  but  the  town  which 
knew  them  then  has  not  so  greatly  changed  with  the  speeding 
years.  Long  without  a  railroad,  it  yet  remains  quaint  and 
old,  a  village  quietly  brooding  over  its  past  glories,  and  con- 
taining many  an  ancient  relic  of  those  stirring  times  when 
history  was  being  fresh  chiselled  from  the  stone.  The  famous 
old  tavern  in  which  La  Fayette  was  entertained  with  such 
formal  ceremony,  and  where  every  distinguished  Illinoisan  of 
that  age  was  at  some  time  a  guest,  was  but  lately  destroyed 
by  fire,  and  much  yet  lingers  to  bear  the  awakened  memory 
back  even  to  territorial  days,  when  nearly  all  of  this  Illinois 
country  was  an  almost  trackless  wilderness,  and  brave  souls 
fought  for  life  along  this  far  frontier. 

The  Henry  Eddy  house,  where  the  great  editor  lived  and 
worked,  stands  almost  as  he  left  it,  fronting  the  main  busi- 
ness street ;  while  still  looking  calmly  forth  upon  the  peaceful 
Ohio,  the  first  brick  building  erected  in  the  town,  the  old 
Marshall  house,  historic  as  the  original  home  of  Illinois' 
first  State  bank,  established  in  1813,  and  the  centre  of  all 
early  financial  operations,  remains  almost  without  a  change 
in  outward  appearance.  Everywhere  about  the  ancient  town 
one  is  constantly  happening  on  such  reminders  of  the  past, 
the  old-fashioned  homes  peeping  forth  from  amid  those  great 
trees  guarding  them,  constantly  wooing  the  memory  back  to 
days  and  events  long  vanished,  and,  by  the  many,  long  for- 
gotten. A  strange  history  of  light  and  shadow  hovers  about 
this  quaint  old  place. 

Shawanoe  Town  it  was  in  that  far-off  past  when  the 
fierce  tribes  of  the  Shawnees  swept  the  valley  of  the  Ohio, 
and  held  this  as  their  western  stronghold.  But  far  away, 
beyond  even  that  era  of  tradition,  the  great  mounds  on  which 
the  town  is  built,  and  which  even  yet  yield  up  their  treasures 
of  dead,  bespeak  an  antiquity  greater  than  history  can  meas- 
ure. Here,  undoubtedly,  was  once  the  metropolis  of  an 
utterly  vanished  race,  and  their  voiceless  memorials,  in 


LAST  RELIC  OF  FORT  CHARTRES 

THE    POWDER-MAGAZINE 


PRESENT  ASPECT  OF  THE  SITE  OF  FORT  MASSAC 


HISTORIC  SPOTS  AS  THEY  APPEAR   TO-DAY    445 

mounds  and  graves  innumerable,  dot  all  that  ancient  trail 
leading  from  New  Haven  to  the  Negro  Salt  Wells.  The  one 
locally  referred  to  as  Dutton's  is  the  most  famous.  Here, 
in  1800,  drifted  the  first  white  settler,  named  Michael  Sprin- 
kle. He  erected  his  lonely  cabin  of  logs  on  the  summit  of  one 
of  these  old  Indian  graves,  and  there  he  remained  for  fourteen 
years,  while  there  slowly  gathered  about  him  the  nucleus  of 
the  growing  town.  By  1806,  the  inhabitants  had  a  mail 
route  connecting  them  with  the  far-off  East;  by  1810  their 
lands  had  been  surveyed  ;  in  181 1,  with  wondering  eyes  they 
looked  out  upon  the  first  steamboat  that  ever  ploughed  the 
waters  of  La  Belle  Riviere;  and  in  1812  the  Government 
honored  them  by  the  establishment  in  their  midst  of  a  land- 
office.  It  was  the  salt  trade  of  the  Illinois  Salines,  situated 
close  at  hand,  which  gave  such  early  importance  to  Shawnee, 
but  the  class  of  men  developed  here  by  the  exigencies  of  fron- 
tier life  would  have  yielded  distinction  to  any  community. 
This  was  the  home  of  the  first  State  bank,  the  centre  of  the 
first  wild  land  speculation,  the  scene  of  the  greatest  money 
panic  in  the  early  history  of  the  State.  Here  was  published 
the  second  paper  in  Illinois,  "  The  Illinois  Emigrant,"  and 
here,  in  houses  yet  standing,  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  studied  law 
and  John  A.  Logan  was  married.  Here,  in  later  times, 
dwelt,  and  worked  his  miracles  of  finance,  that  Colonel 
Sellers  whom  Mark  Twain  has  immortalized.  Time  and 
time  again  has  Shawnee  been  buried  beneath  the  rising 
waters  of  the  Ohio,  in  spite  of  protecting  dykes.  Sixty- 
six  feet  above  low-wr.ter  mark  that  stream  has  swept,  rising 
to  eight  feet  two  inches  in  the  stores  nestling  behind  the 
shelter  of  the  levee.  Steamboats  have  navigated  her  streets  ; 
yet,  old  and  quaint,  prosperous  and  beautiful,  Shawanoe 
Town  yet  smiles  out  above  the  wide,  defeated  river,  proud 
of  her  glorious  past  and  hopeful  of  her  future,  rich  in  his- 
toric memories  and  names  that  can  never  die. 

Just  below  this  site,  but  exactly  where  as  yet  undeter- 


446  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

mined,  only  "at  the  first  landing  after  leaving  Shawanoe 
Town,"  Croghan,  the  English  Ambassador  to  Pontiac, 
met  his  disastrous  defeat  at  the  hands  of  a  band  of  Kicka- 
poos  and  Mascoutins  ;  while  twenty  miles  farther  down  the 
stream  is  that  famous  Cave-in-Rock  which  for  many  a 
year  sheltered  within  its  black  heart  those  terrible  gangs  of 
outlaws  under  command  of  Mason,  Murrell,  and  Ford. 
It  is  a  shallow  and  gloomy  hole  even  yet,  the  walls  written 
over  with  names  of  peaceful  visitors,  its  portal  gaudily 
decorated  with  patent  medicine  advertisements;  while  the 
upper  cave,  as  in  the  past,  can  be  attained  only  by  means  of 
a  most  laborious  climb  up  a  rude  tree-trunk  ladder.  This 
gruesome  spot,  which  in  those  old  border  days  witnessed 
many  a  scene  of  revelry  and  bloodshed,  is  to-day  no  more 
than  a  curiosity,  its  past  victims,  white  and  black,  forgotten. 
Just  below  it,  where,  in  1801,  there  stood  one  lone  cabin, 
there  is  to-day  a  thrifty  village  ;  but  in  all  of  Hardin  County 
there  exists,  even  now,  not  a  mile  of  railroad  to  link  its 
population  with  the  civilization  all  about  them.  Here  one 
sees  the  old  river  towns  just  as  they  existed  in  other  genera- 
tions. 

All  of  this  Illinois  shore  is  historic,  and  has  witnessed 
many  a  strange  flotilla  sweep  by,  both  in  peace  and  in  war. 
Along  every  nook  and  bend  have  been  the  camping-spots 
of  weaned  emigrants,  of  war-worn  soldiers,  of  adventurous 
hunters  and  preying  outlaws.  Here  the  great  family  arks 
have  drifted  down  the  current,  the  men  toiling  awkwardly 
at  the  long  oars,  the  women  and  children  gazing  in  wonder- 
ment on  the  new  land  ;  here  have  been  seen  the  uniforms  of 
French  grenadiers,  British  Highlanders,  and  the  bufF  and 
blue  of  the  Continental  troops.  Along  here  came  Clark's 
backwoodsmen  in  moccasins  and  fringed  hunting-shirts, 
and  many  an  adventurer  of  high  and  low  degree,  not  a  few 
of  whom  have  left  their  mark  upon  the  Old  World's  story. 
The  towns  one  sees  nestling  along  the  bank  are  old,  their 


HISTORIC  SPOTS  AS  THEY  APPEAR    TO-DAY    447 

names  associated  with  early  State  history,  their  houses 
telling  of  that  interesting  past  in  which  they  bore  part 
bravely  and  well  —  Elizabethtown,  Golconda,  Metropolis, 
America,  Post  Wilkins, —  all  a  part  of  the  great  story  of 
colonization  and  development,  of  early  privation  and  achieve- 
ment. 

Old  Massac,  on  the  site  of  a  yet  more  ancient  forti- 
fication, and  close  beside  Mermet's  old  log  chapel  of  the  As- 
sumption, is  passed  just  before  the  steamer  rounds  in  to  the 
Metropolis  wharf-boat.  Crowning  a  prominent  bluff  which 
commands  a  wide  view  up  the  river,  it  is  still  exceedingly 
imposing  from  below,  and  well  worthy,  from  the  stand- 
point of  beauty  as  well  as  history,  of  being  restored  and 
preserved  by  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution. 
Above,  along  the  old  redoubt,  now  largely  levelled  by  time 
and  the  warring  elements,  one  can  dream  long  of  the  stirring 
deeds  enacted  here,  and  of  those  gallant  soldiers  who  have 
looked  forth  upon  this  surrounding  scene  of  river  and 
forest.  This  is,  indeed,  historic  ground,  and  no  words 
can  do  justice  to  its  memories.  The  old  ramparts,  now 
almost  shapeless,  may  yet  be  traced  into  something  of  their 
former  condition,  the  position  of  the  bastions  defined, 
and  even  the  dim  outlines  of  the  ancient  building  within 
their  shelter  outlined  with  some  degree  of  accuracy,  while 
the  old-time  well  which  once  supplied  the  thirsty  garrison 
has  left  its  deep  imprint  in  the  soil.  It  is  easy,  indeed,  to 
stand  in  the  centre  of  this  old  redoubt,  on  the  very  spot 
where  St.  Ange,  Aubry,  Macarty,  Wilkinson,  St.  Clair, 
and  Burr  have  stood,  and  reconstruct  the  demolished  earth- 
works, crowning  them  with  the  log  palisade,  and  filling 
the  parade-ground  with  gallant,  brilliant  figures  ;  easy  to 
lean  out  above  crumbling  bastion,  and  look  far  away  to 
the  mouth  of  that  little  creek  where  Clark's  frontiersmen 
made  daring  landing  on  the  Illinois  shore,  and  mark  that 
strange  new  flag  with  its  stars  and  stripes  gleaming  brightly 


448  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

against  the  blue  of  the  sky.  Fort  Massac!  What  wealth 
of  romance,  forgotten  and  lost  forever,  lies  hidden  beneath 
your  green-clad  ruins!  What  brave  hopes  have  been  buried 
here!  What  great  deeds  have  here  found  birth!  Careless, 
indeed,  is  that  child  of  Illinois  who  will  fail  to  give  you 
honor. 

Rounding  the  point  below  Cairo  where  these  two  great 
rivers  of  the  West  unite,  and  pushing  up  against  the  swift 
current  of  the  Mississippi,  the  way  is  not  long  until  we  come 
into  that  region  first  settled  by  the  white  explorers  of  the 
Illinois.  Of  the  earliest  American  settlements,  those  at 
New  Design  and  Bellefontaine,  almost  no  memory  remains. 
It  is  extremely  difficult,  even  if  possible,  to  exactly  locate 
their  sites,  and  the  names  have  long  since  vanished  from 
off  the  maps.  Burksville  Station,  on  the  railroad,  near  the 
centre  of  Monroe  County,  is  probably  about  where  New 
Design  once  stood.  Burksville,  two  miles  west  of  the  station, 
is  itself  a  very  old  town,  and  contains  houses  ancient  enough 
in  appearance  and  architectural  design  to  make  one  believe 
its  history  might  extend  even  to  this  early  period.  Un- 
fortunately, throughout  much  of  this  neighborhood  little 
interest  in  local  history  has  been  developed,  and  the  resi- 
dents are  of  small  assistance  to  an  investigator.  Certain  it 
is,  however,  that  nothing  remains  which  can  be  definitely 
associated  with  the  earliest  settlement  of  American  pioneers. 

In  the  region  occupied  by  the  first  French  settlements 
the  result  is  more  satisfactory,  although  here  ruin  and 
decay  mark  much  which  a  little  care  would  have  easily 
preserved.  Renault  is  still  an  isolated  village,  contain- 
ing an  old  French  house  or  two  ;  St.  Philippe  and  New 
Chartres  have  utterly  vanished,  save  as  one  finds  here  and 
there  on  the  old  sites  a  few  wild  garden  plants,  or  occasion- 
ally the  remnants  of  a  well.  The  site  of  the  former  is 
covered  by  a  farm,  although  even  to  this  day  a  portion  of 
its  long  line  of  field  is  known  locally  as  "The  King's  High- 


HISTORIC  SPOTS  AS  THEY  APPEAR    TO-DAY   449 

way,"  perhaps  a  dim  memory  of  that  excellent  road  along 
which  the  negroes  of  Renault  toiled  on  his  service. 

Prairie  du  Rocher,  situated  at  the  edge  of  the  American 
Bottom,  with  the  great  rock  sentinels  of  the  bluff  towering 
high  above  its  little  houses,  has  fared  better  then  any  of 
these  other  towns  of  the  old  French  regime.  Yet,  in  the 
long  years  that  have  fled,  and  especially  since  the  late 
coming  of  the  prosaic  railroad  to  her  borders,  she  has  lost 
much  of  those  characteristics  connecting  her  with  the 
picturesque  past.  Here  and  there  an  old  French  residence 
rewards  the  traveller,  and  the  narrow,  shaded  streets  be- 
speak plainly  the  earlier  days.  A  few  descendants  of 
Renault's  negro  slaves  are  to  be  met  with,  while  French 
names,  many  of  them  famous  in  the  long  ago,  are  common 
among  the  residents.  But  Prairie  du  Rocher  is  no  longer 
a  French  village  ;  the  sunny,  sleepy  contentment  of  the 
fathers  has  departed,  and  the  new  generation,  intensely 
American  in  spirit,  retains  little  interest  in  that  dim  and 
fading  past  in  which  their  town  bore  so  prominent  a  part. 
To  one  who  seeks  historical  material,  the  quaint  old  ceme- 
tery, containing  the  body  of  many  a  French  pioneer  and 
soldier,  or  friar  of  the  black  or  the  gray  robe,  offers  the 
greatest  reward. 

Four  miles  away,  along  an  ordinary  country  road  lead- 
ing across  the  level  bottom-land,  lie  the  remnants  of  Fort 
Chartres.  A  farmhouse  occupies  the  site,  and  the  occupants 
draw  their  water  from  out  the  old  well  that  once  supplied 
the  fort.  It  is  a  lonely,  desolate  spot,  the  ancient  stone  walls 
levelled  even  with  the  surface,  yet  plainly  traceable  along 
three  sides.  The  fourth  side,  which  was  undermined  by  the 
river,  has  entirely  disappeared.  The  wagon  entrance  to 
the  present  farmyard  occupies  the  exact  position  where  the 
great  gates  formerly  swung,  and  it  is  even  possible  to  deter- 
mine something  of  the  ground-form  of  those  various  build- 
ings of  stone  which  once  stood  within.  The  outline  of  the 


450  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

ditch,  which  we  are  told  was  never  completed,  may  be 
dimly  seen,  while  the  cellars,  supposed  to  have  belonged  to 
the  commandant's  house  and  the  barracks,  now  nearly  filled 
level  to  the  surface  with  debris,  are  visible.  All  that  re- 
mains unchanged  by  time  is  the  old  powder  magazine.  It 
stands,  massive  and  picturesque,  within  the  area  of  what  was 
once  the  southeastern  bastion,  its  walls  four  feet  thick  slop- 
ing upward  about  twelve  feet  from  the  ground,  and  rounded 
at  the  top.  The  interior,  nearly  thirty  feet  square,  remains 
entirely  uninjured,  although  the  guarding  doors  are  of 
course  absent. 

Standing  beside  this  venerable  relic  of  the  past,  and  look- 
ing forth  through  the  ancient  gateway  where  so  many  have 
stood  and  gazed  during  the  vanished  years,  or  marched 
forth  to  battle,  one  can  do  no  better  than  reecho  the  words 
of  Edward  G.  Mason,  written  on  this  very  spot: 

"  Here  one  may  well  invoke  the  shades  of  Macarty,  and  De 
Villiers,  and  St.  Ange,  and  easily  bring  back  the  past.  For,  as  it  is 
to-day,  it  has  seen  them  all  as  they  went  to  and  fro  before  it  or  ex- 
amined its  store  of  shot  and  shell;  it  has  heard  the  word  of  com- 
mand as  the  grenadiers  drilled  on  the  parade-ground  hard  by;  it  has 
watched  the  tawny  chieftains  and  their  followers  trooping  in  single 
file  through  the  adjacent  gateway ;  and  past  its  moss-grown  walls 
the  bridal  processions  of  Madelaine  Loisel  and  Elizabeth  Mont- 
charveaux  and  the  other  fair  ladies  from  the  fort  have  gone  to  the 
little  church  of  St.  Anne.  And  gazing  at  it  in  such  a  mood,  until 
all  about  was  peopled  with  l  the  airy  shapes  of  long  ago,'  and  one 
beheld  again  the  gallant  company  which  laid  the  foundations  of 
this  fortress  with  such  high  hope  and  purpose, —  the  hurrying 
scouts  passing  through  its  portals  with  tidings  of  Indian  foray  or 
Spanish  march,  the  valiant  leaders  setting  forth  from  its  walls  on 
distant  expeditions  against  savage  or  civilized  foe,  the  colonists 
flocking  to  its  storehouse  or  council-chamber,  the  dusky  warriors 
thronging  its  enclosure  with  Chicago  or  Pontiac  at  their  head,  the 
gathering  there  of  those  who  founded  a  great  city,  the  happy  village 
at  its  gates,  and  the  scenes  of  its  momentous  surrender,  which 


HISTORIC  SPOTS  AS  THEY  APPEAR   TO-DAY    451 

sealed  the  loss  of  an  empire  to  France,  —  it  seemed  not  unreason- 
able to  wish  that  the  State  of  Illinois  might,  while  yet  there  is  time, 
take  measures  to  permanently  preserve,  for  the  sake  of  the  memo- 
ries, the  romance,  and  the  history  interwoven  in  its  fabric,  what 
still  remains  of  Old  Fort  Chartres." 

It  is  seventeen  miles  to  Fort  Gage,  over  the  level  bot- 
tom land,  and  along  the  edge  of  the  frowning  bluffs, 
including  ferriage  across  the  Kaskaskia  River.  A  hard, 
toilsome  climb  up  the  steep  rock-strewn  side  of  a  high  hill 
is  necessary  before  you  attain  the  earthworks  crowning  the 
summit,  but  once  there,  the  view  spread  out  across  the  wide 
valley  is  well  worthy  the  struggle.  Almost  at  the  foot  of  this 
bluff,  preserved  with  care,  and  remaining  outwardly  just 
as  when  it  was  one  of  the  famous  homes  about  old  Kaskaskia, 
honored  by  having  La  Fayette  as  guest,  and  many  others 
whose  names  have  become  part  of  history,  stands  the  former 
residence  of  bluff  old  Pierre  Menard,  the  first  Lieutenant- 
Go  vernor  of  Illinois.  What  rare  scenes  of  gayety  and  sorrow, 
revelry  and  despair,  its  walls  have  witnessed !  What  memo- 
ries of  departed  glories  must  ever  haunt  its  shadows,  as, 
with  that  silent  fort  far  above,  it  still  faces  those  cruel 
waters  which  have  engulfed  all  its  old  companions! 

The  ruins  of  the  fort  are  well  preserved,  the  walls  of 
earth  from  which  the  palisades  have  long  ago  disappeared 
being  considerably  higher  than  at  Massac,  and  more  easily 
traceable  in  their  entirety.  Yet  it  is  imposssible  to  deter- 
mine where  the  gate  originally  swung,  nor  is  there  any  trace 
remaining  of  that  roadway  which  must  at  one  time  have 
wound  upward  to  the  summit.  Beyond  the  fort  lies  an  old 
French  cemetery,  overgrown  with  grass,  with  many  of  the 
monuments  lying  overturned  and  broken  on  the  ground. 
Here,  from  the  summit  of  the  ancient  redoubt,  can  be  obtained 
the  best  possible  view  of  all  that  remains  of  Old  Kaskaskia, 
and  of  where  the  main  town  once  stood  in  its  pride,  now 
covered  by  the  rolling  waters  of  that  remorseless  river  which 


452  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

caused  its  slow  destruction.  And  little  enough  there  is  that 
is  left  —  a  mere  shack  or  two,  tottering  helplessly  on  the 
verge  of  the  stream,  which  is  only  biding  its  time  to  drag  them 
down  also;  the  old  court-house,  sad  relic  of  those  proud  days 
of  power  when  Kaskaskia  was  the  chief  city  of  Randolph 
County  and  of  the  State  as  well ;  the  trembling,  dismantled 
remains  of  the  priests'  house,  said  to  have  been  the  first  build- 
ing ever  erected  of  brick  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  Under  that 
rushing  yellow  flood  the  lost  years  of  history,  of  romance,  of 
tender  memory,  lie  but  half  recorded.  Few,  indeed,  are  the 
spots  about  which  cluster  such  recollections  of  great  events 
and  honored  names.  The  French,  the  English,  the  Ameri- 
can Kaskaskia,  about  it  hovers  every  memory  of  those  stern 
old  days  of  struggle  and  endeavor ;  and  the  desolate  spot 
where  it  once  stood  in  its  simple  beauty  is  glorified  still  by 
the  deeds  of  two  hundred  years  of  history.  Of  its  old-time 
neighbor  and  rival,  Cahokia,  there  is  little  remnant,  if  any, 
the  site  being  now  utilized  for  switching  purposes  by  a 
railroad. 

Farther  up  the  Mississippi,  twenty  miles  beyond  War- 
saw (near  which  place  Forts  Edwards  and  Johnson  were 
built  and  garrisoned  in  1814),  is  the  most  interesting  town 
remaining  in  Illinois  —  Nauvoo,  the  famed  city  of  the 
Mormons  and  the  Icarians.  Situated  partly  on  the  flat,  and 
partly  upon  the  high  bluff  beyond,  beautiful  at  a  distance 
because  of  the  diversity  of  its  peculiar  architecture  and  the 
picturesque  grouping  of  its  ancient  homes,  it  is  no  less 
attractive  when  one  wanders  along  its  narrow,  rock-strewn 
streets,  and  amid  the  old-fashioned  houses,  each  with  its 
story  of  the  past.  The  marvellous  Old  Temple  has  gone, 
the  space  it  once  occupied  remaining  still  a  vacant  spot  on 
the  high  blufF  summit.  Nor  are  there  many  relics  of  the 
Icarian  struggle,  save  an  almost  shapeless  ruin  here  and 
there  ;  but  the  old  Masonic  Temple,  the  building  where 
"The  Expositor"  was  published  just  once,  the  old  Mansion 


PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  MARSHALL 

FROM   PAINTING  BY  MIFLIN,    1834;    NOW  IN   POSSESSION  OF 
COLONEL  MARSHALL'S  DESCENDANTS 


HISTORIC  SPOTS  AS  THET  APPEAR   TO-DAY    453 

House  with  its  secret  closet,  the  old  Post-office  building,  and 
the  former  homes  of  Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith,  Elder  Heber 
C.  Kimball,  Brigham  and  Joseph  Young,  and  numerous 
others,  bring  vividly  before  the  mind  the  stirring  events  of 
Mormon  occupancy  and  the  struggle  waged  here  for  su- 
premacy. Twenty  miles  away,  at  Carthage,  stands  the 
old  stone  jail  where  the  Smiths  were  killed.  Nauvoo,  still 
a  typical  river  town,  untouched  by  any  invading  railway, 
remains,  like  a  leaf  torn  from  out  an  old  book,  possessing 
a  charm  peculiarly  its  own. 

Many  a  point  of  historic  interest  in  the  State  must  be 
passed  over  lightly.  Black  Hawk's  Tower  looks  out  over 
the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Rock,  where  once  lay  the  famed 
village  of  the  Sauks.  The  spot  has  been  degraded  into  a 
cheap  amusement  park,  and  a  like  unfortunate  fate  has 
befallen  that  superb  rock  where  the  Fox  nation  died  in 
heroic  starvation,  and  where  Fort  St.  Louis  lifted  its  pali- 
sades in  guardianship  over  the  Algonquins  in  the  heart  of 
this  Illinois  country,  when  La  Salle  and  Tonty  ruled  the 
wilderness.  Below  it  stretch  the  broad  Utica  meadows, 
fair  as  in  the  old  days  when  Marquette  preached  there  to 
the  wondering  Illinois.  Campbell's  Island,  the  scene  of 
Rector's  magnificent  fight  in  the  War  of  1812,  is  also  a  re- 
sort for  Summer  pleasure,  but  the  exact  spot  of  that  gallant 
struggle,  which,  from  discoveries  in  the  sandy  beach,  has 
been  identified  beyond  question,  is  soon  to  be  marked  by 
an  appropriate  monument. 

Few  spots  in  Illinois  are  more  interesting  historically 
than  those  immediately  surrounding  the  Peoria  Lake,  the 
"  Pimiteoui  Lake  "  of  La  Salle.  From  the  earliest  days  of 
French  exploration  down  to  the  expiring  of  the  fur  trade» 
this  region  teemed  with  events.  It  had  ever  been  an  Indian 
trading  and  council  ground,  and  great  villages  from  time 
immemorial  stood  along  the  Detroit  or  strait  connecting 
the  two  lakes.  Little  is  known  of  French  history  on  this 


454  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

spot  between  1700  and  1765,  except  that  traders  were  almost 
constantly  there.  In  the  early  days  of  French  permanent 
settlement,  that  is,  from  1765,  an  exceedingly  large  trading 
town,  said  at  one  time  to  have  exceeded  four  thousand  souls, 
sprang  up  in  the  same  neighborhood,  long  known  as  Le  Pe ; 
but  later,  for  some  cause  unknown,  the  population,  or 
what  remained  of  it,  shifted  to  the  present  site  of  Peoria, 
the  old  French  claims  skirting  the  shore  for  some  distance 
below  the  modern  Rock  Island  Railroad  depot.  This 
latter  building  is  believed  to  occupy  almost  exactly  the 
position  where  Fort  Clark  formerly  stood,  when  General 
Howard  left  it,  reporting  it  to  the  officials  in  the  East  as  the 
strongest  post  of  its  kind  in  the  West. 

Along  the  bluffs  on  either  side  of  the  lake  and  river,  as 
well  as  beside  the  straits,  numerous  remains  of  ancient  forti- 
fications have  been  discovered,  many  of  them,  no  doubt,  hav- 
ing been  thrown  up  by  French  and  American  fur  traders  in 
protection  against  Indian  treachery,  or  else  relics  of  the 
English  invasions  of  the  Revolution,  or  the  American  ad- 
vance of  1812.  Unfortunately,  these  old-time  forts,  grass- 
grown  and  apparently  most  ancient,  have  sadly  divided  local 
historians  in  their  eager  search  after  the  more  probable  site  of 
La  Salle's  Fort  Crevecoeur.  In  truth,  so  vague  are  the  exist- 
ing descriptions  of  the  exact  spot  chosen  by  these  earliest 
explorers  for  their  first  fort-building  in  the  Illinois  country, 
that  unless  other  material  be  discovered  in  the  French  ar- 
chives, or  the  buttes  of  the  old  palisades  (possibly  yet  pre- 
served in  the  earth)  be  accidentally  uncovered,  this  is  a 
point  which  must  likely  remain  unsolved.  No  one  dare 
proclaim  beyond  a  doubt  whether  La  Salle's  choice  lay 
along  the  strait,  or  upon  the  river  below  the  lower  lake ; 
yet  the  present  writer  has  little  hesitation  in  saying  that  both 
spots  now  designated  by  local  historians  as  their  choice  for 
Fort  Crevecoeur  must  be  considered  erroneous,  even  from 
the  vague  description  left  us. 


RESIDENCE    OF    JOHN    MARSHALL,    SHAWNEETOWN,    IN 
WHICH  FIRST  BANK    IN    STATE  WAS  ESTABLISHED,  1813 

SMALL    VIEW    TAKEN    BEFORE    LEVEE    WAS    BUILT 


HISTORIC  SPOTS  AS  THEY  APPEAR.   TO-DAY    455 

The  very  purpose  of  building  this  fort,  which  was  tem- 
porary, and  to  secure,  without  interruption  from  the  Indians, 
the  construction  of  a  vessel  with  which  to  navigate  the 
Mississippi,  would  seem  to  preclude  at  once  the  possibility 
that  it  was  ever  located  upon  a  high  and  almost  inaccessible 
bluff  far  away  from  the  river  shore,  and  consequently 
seriously  removed  from  the  work  to  be  accomplished.  The 
small  number  of  La  Salle's  followers  would  also  be  against 
such  a  probability.  This  natural  argument,  strong  as  it 
is,  can  only  add  its  weight  to  the  direct  evidence  of  those 
taking  part  in  its  construction.  Mason  is  extremely  cau- 
tious in  his  use  of  the  descriptive  language  employed,  and 
his  translation  may  be  safely  relied  upon,  although  our 
conclusions  differ  widely.  Briefly,  it  is  this.  The  spot  chosen 
for  fort-building  was  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Illinois  River, 
about  two  miles  and  a  half  below  its  exit  from  Pimiteoui 
Lake.  A  great  thaw  (the  nature  of  which  every  Peorian 
will  easily  understand)  had  cleared  the  river  of  ice  from 
the  lake  to  the  place  selected,  and  the  builders  went  there 
in  canoes  the  evening  of  January  15,  1680.  The  spot 
decided  on  was  a  low  hill  (Hennepin,  in  one  passage,  says  a 
small  eminence),  a  little  more  than  a  mile  from  the  Indian 
village,  two  hundred  paces  distant  from  the  bank  of  the 
river,  which  spread  to  its  foot  in  the  time  of  heavy  rains. 
This  description  would  seem  to  do  away  with  any  possibility 
that  it  could  have  crowned  the  high,  steep  bluff,  or  even 
occupied  so  inaccessible  a  position  as  the  ledge  where  the 
Daughters  of  the  Revolution  have  erected  their  memorial. 
Yet,  there  is  a  spot  just  below,  and  seemingly  strangely 
overlooked,  which  almost  exactly,  taking  into  account  the 
probable  shoreward  trend  of  the  stream  during  the  inter- 
vening centuries,  meets  the  requirements.  Here  can  be 
traced  still  the  low  hill,  the  small  eminence,  undoubtedly 
now  far  less  marked  in  bold  outlines  than  when  Hennepin 
first  surveyed  it,  with  the  two  ravines,  one  on  either  side, 


456  HISTORIC  ILLINOIS 

but  greatly  choked  by  accumulated  d'ebris,  and  of  less  im- 
portance than  formerly.  Many  things  have  combined  to 
change  the  configuration  of  the  ground,  and  it  is  marvel- 
lous that  even  so  much  remains  to  recall  the  mind  to  the 
friar's  simple  description.  A  long-used  wagon-road,  and 
the  grading  of  a  railway,  have  caused  the  trench  connecting 
the  two  ravines  to  vanish  totally,  but  otherwise  the  position 
is  not  only  possible,  it  is  far  more  probable  than  any  of  the 
others,  and  had  it  been  left  untouched  by  man,  might 
possibly  be  identified  beyond  a  doubt.  Wesley  City  is  the 
site  of  a  very  old  French  village,  the  encroaching  river 
already  making  inroads  on  the  ancient  and  almost  forgot- 
ten burial-ground,  and  uncovering  the  foundation-posts  of 
buildings  long  since  vanished  in  decay.  As  early  as  1819 
the  American  Fur  Company  had  a  factory  here,  very  likely 
throwing  up  at  that  time  those  earthworks  on  the  face  of  the 
bluff,  even  if  that  work  had  not  been  previously  accom- 
plished by  the  earlier  French  inhabitants.  It  was  known  for 
years  as  the  Trading  Post,  yet  even  the  buildings  then  used 
have  almost  totally  disappeared.  On  the  spot  which  may 
have  been  occupied  by  Fort  Crevecoeur  an  old  distillery 
once  stood.  It  likewise  has  vanished,  while  the  house  of 
Joseph  M.  Wilson,  now  upon  the  site,  in  its  turn  begins  to 
look  picturesque  and  ancient.  Impossible  as  it  must  be 
to  say  definitely  that  here  stood  La  Salle's  first  fortification 
in  the  Illinois  country,  the  fourth  in  his  great  scheme  of 
conquest,  yet,  to  the  mind  of  the  present  writer,  it  remains 
by  far  the  most  probable  spot. 

Much  more  remains  to  be  told,  much  more  remains  to 
be  seen, —  the  place  of  battle  on  the  willow-islands  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Rock  River,  the  old  homes  of  Bishop  Hill 
and  Albion,  the  lead-fields  about  Galena  with  their  scarcely 
written  story,  the  site  of  Apple  River  Fort  and  its  heroic 
defence,  the  old  centre  of  Indian  trade  at  Danville,  the 
place  where  Clark  and  his  men  conquered  the  swollen 


HISTORIC  SPOTS  AS  THEY  APPEAR   TO-DAY    457 

Wabash,  and  that  spot  of  mysterious  tradition  in  Kendall 
County  we  know  as  Maramech,  —  all  alike  invite  to  deep 
research  and  careful  study  ;  for  few  indeed  are  the  happen- 
ings along  those  early  years  without  their  influence  on  a 
wider  history  than  that  of  the  mere  State  in  which  they 
chanced  to  be  enacted. 

"  Not  without  thy  wondrous  story, 

Illinois,  Illinois, 

Can  be  writ  the  Nation's  glory, 
Illinois,  Illinois." 


THE    END 


INDEX 


INDEX 


ABE 

ABENAKI  Indians,  67 

Aboite  River,  Ind.,  157 

Abrams,  Gordon,  Commander  of  mili- 
tia, 368 

Accau,  Michel,  Hennepin's  companion, 
60,  91 

Acts  of  Congress,  of  1807,  171;  in  1846, 
172;  in  1791,  212;  in  1800,  222;  in 
1809,  222;  in  1813,  294;  concerning 
powers  of  Governor,  303;  in  1812, 
303;  in  1872,  426,  in  1850,  437 

Adams,  Captain,  261 

—  County,  settlers  in,  296 
"Adventure,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 

—  Mississippi  River  steamboat,  423 
"jEtna,"  fifth  steamboat,  417 
Akers,  Peter,  396 

Albion,  Edwards  Co.,  242,  346,  347,  456 
Aldrich,  Mark,  tried  for  death  of  Joseph 

Smith,  278 

Alexander,  General,  265 
Algonquin  race  in  Illinois,  28,  29,  80-82, 

175.  »77 

Allen,  Colonel  Robert,  farm  near  Spring- 
field, 339 

,  tried  for  death  of  Joseph  Smith, 

278 

Allouez,  Father,  83,  88,  90,  93 

"Altar"  mounds,  23,  24 

"Alton    Observer,"    Lovejoy*s  paper, 

33°   ' 

Alton,  Painted  rocks  near,  45;  State 
capital,  313;  anti-slavery  riots,  330; 
rivalry  with  other  cities,  434,  435 

—  and  Sangamon  Railroad,  439 
America,  447 

American  Bottom,  Mound-builders  in 
the,  si ;  forts,  174;  settlers  in,  210,  290; 
Indian  warfare  in,  214-216;  floods 
in,  428 


BAR 

American  Fur  Company,  168,  456 
"American,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 
Anderson,  Lieutenant  Robert,  258 
Andover,  Henry  Co.,  345 
Andrews,  James,  early  settler,  210,  214 
"Annals  of  the  West,"  214 
"Anthony  Wayne,"  river  steamer,  426 
Apple  River  mines,  167;  forts,  190,  257, 

263,  456;  Winter's  settlement,  255 
Ashmore  settlement,  Douglass  Co.,  301 
Assumption,  Mission  of  the,    at    Fort 

Massac,  96,  185,  186,  447 
Atcherson,  George,  early  settler,  210 
Atchison,  Captain,  of  the  "  Winnebago, 

426 
Atkinson,  General  (White  Beaver),  257- 

269 

Atlantic  and  Mississippi  Railroad,  436 
Attorneys,  Territorial  regulation  of,  308 
Aubray,  Captain,  in 
Aubry.  M.,  186 

Aviston,  Journey's  Fort  at,  188 
Axley,  James,  Methodist  preacher,  395 

BAD  AXE,  Battle  of,  267-269 

Bailes,  Mrs.  Jesse,  245 

Bailey,  Major,  259 

Baker,  David  J.f  386 

—  E.  D.,  speaker  at  Statehouse,  1837, 

3iS.  337 

,  engineer  of  the  "  New  Orleans," 

416 

"  Baltic,"  river  steamboat,  420 
Bamber,  ,  Monroe  County  settler, 

347 

Banks  in  State,  301,  445 
"  Banner,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 
Baptist  Church,  396 
Barbeau,  John  Baptiste,  of  Prairie  du 

Roc  her,  292 


461 


462 


INDEX 


BAR 

Barbier,  Gabriel,  of  La  Salle's  company, 
68 

Baron, ,  of  La  Salle's  company,  63 

64 

Barton,  Joshua,  duel  with  Thomas  Rec- 
tor, 335 

Baugy,  Chevalier  de,  82,  83,  177 

Beardstown,  Indian  flints  found  at,  23; 
site  in  1680,  30;  troops  for  Black 
Hawk  War  gathered  at,  257,  258, 
265;  founded,  296;  Harris-Henry  af- 
fair, 341,  342 

Beaucoup  Creek,  124 

Beausoliel's  Island,  403 

Bellefontaine,  officer  at  Ft.   St.  Louis, 

85»  177 

—  209,  214—216,  290,  448 

Belle  Reve,  same  as  St.  Ange  de  Belle 

Reve 

Belleville,  127,  219,  221,  335,  336 
Beloit,  Wis.,  265 
Bennett,  William,  duel  at  Belleville,  335, 

336 

Berry,  Elijah  C.,  State  Auditor,  312 
Bersie,  Captain,  of  the  "  St.  Croix,"  426 
Bienville,  Governor  of  Louisiana,  179 

1 80 
Biggs,  Stephen,  Methodist  preacher,  395 

—  William,  sheriff  atCahokia,  215,  292, 

3°4.  305 

Binneteau,  Father  Julien,  93,  95,  130 
Birbeck,  Morris,  founder  of  Wannock, 

Edwards  Co.,  346,  347 
Birch-bark  canoes,  108 
Birds's  settlement,  mouth  of  Ohio  River, 

293 

Bishop  Hill,  Henry  Co.,  345,  347~353> 
456 

Bissell, ,  Colonel  2d  Illinois  Volun- 
teers in  Mexican  War,  343 

Black  Hawk,  249,  255-270 

—  Hawk's  War,  36,  37,  190,  255-270 

—  Hawk's  Watch  Tower,  37,  256,  453 

—  Indians,  tribal  markings,  37 

"  Black  Laws,"  adopted  1819,  321 
Black  Partridge,  235,  237,  238 
Blackwell,  Judge,  361 
Blanc,  Noel,  of  La  Salle's  company,  63 


BRO 

Blanchard,  Rufus,  Maps  of,  119 
Bledsoe.  Dr.,  in  Lincoln-Shields  affair, 

339 
Blennerhasset, ,  St.  Louis  alderman, 

34i 

Blennerhassets,  The,  185 
Bloody  Island,   in    river,   opposite  St. 

Louis,  335 
Bloomington,  439 
Blouin,  Daniel,  159,  160 
Blue  Mounds,  Indian  skirmish  at,  265 
Blue  River,  163 
Boats  used  on  Illinois  water-ways,  no, 

in,  165,  208,  295,  299,  300,  414-428 
Boilvin,  Nicholas,  169 
Boisbriant,  Major  Pierre  Dugue,   141, 

178,  179 

Boisrondet,  Francois  de,  68,  72,  76,  177 
Bolles  trail,  297 
Boltenhouse,  ,  killed    in    Edwards 

Co.,  242 

Bond  County,  295,  379 
—  Shadrach,  209,  290,  295,  304,  334, 378, 

379;  the  younger,  309 
Bond's  Rangers,  242 
Bon  Pas,  river  and  town,  125,  383 
Boone,  Major,  244 
"  Boreas,"  river  steamer,  426 
Bossu,  French  captain  of  marines,  416 
Bourdon,  Jean,  of  La  Salle's  company, 

68 
Bouthillier,  Francois,  170 

Bowen, ,  early  settler,  210 

Bowman,  Captain  Joseph,  with  Clark, 

192,  200,  204-206 

Boyd's  Grove,  Charles  S.  Boyd's  settle- 
ment, 255 

Boyle, ,  Chief  Justice,  382 

Bradshaw,  John,  Johnson  Co.,  304 
Brady,  Tom  ("  Monsieur  Tom"),  155, 

156 

"Brazil,"  river  steamer,  427 
Breese,   Sidney,   clerk    to  Secretary  of 

State,  312 

Bridges  across  Mississippi,  425,  426 
Brockman,  Thomas  S.,  281 
Brossard, ,  of  La  Salle's  company, 

80 


INDEX 


463 


BRO 

"  Brough  Road,"  436 
Brown,  B.  Gratz,  343 

—  County  mounds  opened,  23 

—  Katharine  Holland,  356 
,  author  quoted,  364 

,  pro-slavery  candidate  for  gov- 
ernor, 1822,  325 

Bryson,  Wm.,  early  settler,  ai8 

Buffalo  Grove,  Fort  at,  257 

"Buffalo,"  Mississippi  steamboat,  418 

Buffalo  Rock,  58 

Bulbona  settlement,  255 

Bureau  County,  Indians  in,  30;  trails 
across,  120,  121,  127;  settlements  in, 
297 

—  Creek,  settlement   at    Bulbona,  255 
Burger,  Father,  from  Seminary  of  Que- 
bec, 95 

Burgess, comrade  of  Tom  Higgins, 

246 
Burksville,  Monroe  County,  448 

—  Station,  Monroe  County,  448 
Burns  house,  Chicago,  227 
Burr,  Aaron,  185,  186 

—  Oak  Grove,  Indian  skirmish  at,  265 
Butler,  Jackson,  Kidnapping  of,  323 

—  William,  challenged  by  Shields,  339, 

34° 
Butte  des  Morts,  Wis.,  145 

CABET,  Etienne,  354-358 
Cacasotte,  negro  pirate,  403,  404 
Cache  River,  in  Alexander  County,  242 
Cadillac,  La  Mothe,  163 
Cahokia  Indians,  29,  32,  131 

—  mounds,  21 

—  village  (Kaoquias),  130, 133, 134, 141, 
157.  304,  428,  452 

Caldwell,  Billy,  236,  238 

Calhoun  County,  243 

Cameron,  Captain,  of  the  "  Quincy,"426 

Camp  Russell,  near  Edwardsville,  188- 

190,  241,  243,  244 
Campbell,  John,  erected  fort  on  Illinois 

River,  188 

—  Lieutenant,  248-251 

—  Thompson,  of  Jo  Daviess  Co.,  341, 
34* 


CHI 

Campbell's  Island,  248-251,  453 
Cane  Ridge  camp-meeting,  392,  393 
Cannon,  John  W.(  of  the  "  Robert  E. 

Lee,"  420,  421 
Cape  au  Gris,  251 
Capital  city  of  State,  300-317 
Capitol  building,  311-317 
Carlin,  T.,  settler  in  Green  County,  294 
Carlinvillc,  Macoupin  Co.,  126 
Carlyle,  127,  188,  242,  310 
Carroll,  General,  with  Gen.  La  Fayette, 

422 
Carter's  settlement,   McDonough   Co., 

296 

Carthage,  275-279,  453 
"  Carthage  Grays,"  277 
Cartwright,  Peter,  395,  396 
Casey,  Zadoc,  Methodist  preacher,  396 
"Cataract,"  river  steamboat,  419 
Catfish  Creek,  Lead  furnace  near,  168 
Caton,  Judge,  311 
Catskill,    Mrs.     (ne'e    McMahon),    of 

Ridge  Prairie,  221 

Cauchois,  Jacques,  of  La  Salle's  com- 
pany, 68,  80 
Cautine,  Flood  at,  429 
Cave-in-Rock,  on  Ohio  River,  293,  401, 

402,  446 

Cavelier,  of  La  Salle's  company,  85 
Central  Railroad,  432 
Centre,  Tazewell  Co.,  126 
Chachagouessiou,  Indian  chief,  62 
Chambers's  Fort, vicinity  of  Lebanon,  iSS 
Champaign  County,  Hopkins's  march 

across,  127 

"  Champion,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 
Chanjou,  early  colonist,  134 
Charleston,  on  Kaskaskia-Detroit  trail, 

122 

Charlevoix,  Father,  36,  131,  178,  179 
Charron,  Franjois,  early  colonist,  134 
Chassagonache,  Chief,  92 
Chaudonnaire,  St.  Joseph  chief,  238 
Chevalier,  Don  Luis,  151 
Chevct,  Pierre,  early  colonist,  134 
Chicago,  56,  67.  78,  93,  107,  116,  126, 

128,  161, 174,  187,  223-239,  255,  297, 

369.  433.  435.  437-439 


464 


INDEX 


CHI 
Chicago  and  Alton  Railroad,  439 

—  and  Galena  Railroad,  433,  434,  437 

—  and  North  Western  Railroad,  438 
Chickasaw  Bluff,  The  third,  180 
Chillicothe  (Gomo's  village),  127,  243 
Chilton,  Madison  Co.,  settlement,  293 
Christy,  Major,  244 

Clark,   Francis,  second  school-teacher, 

398 

—  General,  36,  306 

—  George  Rogers,  123-125,  157,    161, 
186,  191-207,  288,  380,  446 

—  John,  clergyman  and  school-teacher, 

399 

—  John,  Methodist  preacher,  394 
Clarksville,    opposite    Louisville,    Ky., 

380 

Clingan,  John,  395 

Clinton  County,  245 

Code  Duello,  333-344 

Colbert,  Marquette's  name  for  Missis- 
sippi, 47 

"  Cold  Water,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 

Cole,  Captain,  of  the  "  Rapids,"  426 

—  Colonel  Edward,  184 

Coles  County,  Trail  across,  122;  settled, 
296 

—  Governor  Edward,  324-326,  346,  422 
College   of   St.    Marie,    Montreal,   has 

Marquette's  letter,  53 
Collet,  Father,  R6coUet  friar,  93 
Collin,  of  La  Salle's  company,  61 
"Comet,"  second  steamboat,  417 
Commerce,  founded  by  Isaac  Galland, 

271 

Congregational  Church  in  Illinois  coun- 
try, 398 

Cook    County,    Indians    in,    30;    Sauk 
trail  crossed,  120 

—  Daniel  P.,  386 

Copper  mines  on  Lake  Superior,  17 
Couture,  of  La  Salle's  company,  86 
Covington,  Washington  Co.,  242,  363 
Craig,  Perry  Co.,  124 
Creval,  of  La  Salle's  company,  68 
"  Criterion,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 
Croghan,  Colonel,  36;  (afterwards  Ma- 
jor) 287,  446 


DeL 

Crozier,  Samuel,  senator  from  Ran- 
dolph Co.,  362 

Cruvat,  Don  Francesco,  Spanish  com- 
mander at  St.  Louis,  150,  154 

Cumberland  County,  Trail  across,  122 

DAD  JOE'S  GROVE,  Settlement^,  255, 
297 

Dadant,  ,  of  Icarian  Colony,  356 

Dalles  of  the  Wisconsin  River,  268 

Daniels,  ,  in  Jackson  County,  293 

"  Danite  Band,"  273 

Danville,  point  of  convergence  for  trails, 
1 1 6;  on  mail  route,  128;  scene  of  en- 
gagement between  Spanish  and  In- 
dians, 153 

Darnielle,  Isaac,  381 

D'Artaguette's  expedition,  88,  97,  180 

D'Artigny,  le  Sieur,  early  colonist,  134 

Dartmouth,  Lord,  159 

Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution, 
187,  447,  455 

D'Autray,  Sieur,  of  La  Salle's  company, 
61,  63,  64,  68,  80 

Davenport,  Colonel  George,  169,  413 

—  Iowa,  Indian  village  on  site  of,  38 
Davidson  and  Stuve,  136,  138,  213,  244, 

3°5>  335.  431.  437.  44°~442 
Davis  farm,  on  Indian  Creek,  near  Ot- 
tawa, 263 

—  Jacob,  tried    for  death    of    Joseph 
Smith,     278 

—  Jefferson,  343 

Dawson,  John,  representative  from  San- 

gamon  Co.,  313 
De  Bertel,  Le  Chevalier,  181 
Decatur's  suit  in  Supreme  Court,  317 
De  Chaulne,  Andre,  early 'colonist,  135 
De  Denonville,    Marquis,  Governor  of 

Canada,  84 

De  Fa  ye,  Jacque,  early  colonist,  135 
De  Grig,  Michel,  early  colonist,  135 
De  Guyenne,  Father  Xavier,  97,  98 
De  Hart,  Robinson,  captain  of  the  "^Et- 
na," 417 

De  Kalb  County,  Outlaws  In,  408 
De  la  Buissouiere,  Alphonse,  181 
De  Liette,  Sieur,  180 


INDEX 


465 


DeL 
De  Lignerie,  Commander  at  Mackinac, 

145 

De  Longbde,  Charles,  161 
De  Marie,  of  La  Salle's  company,  85 
Dement's,  Major,  Volunteers,  264 
De  Montbrun,  Timothee,  290 
De  Moulin,  John,  of  Cahokia,  293 
Dempsey,  John,  216,  218,  219 
De  Noyclles,  of  Detroit,  147 
Des  Moines  River,  Post  opposite  mouth 

of,  121,   174 

De  So  to,  on  site  of  Fort  Massac,  184 
Des  Plaincs  River,  Early  name  of,  107 
Detroit-Kaskaskia  trail,  121,  122 
De  Vaudreuil,  Le  Marquis,  Governor  of 

Louisiana,  181 

De  Verney,  Father  Julian,  97 
De  Verville,  Charles,  160 
De  Ville,  Father,  97 
De  Villiers,  Neyon,  147,  183 
De  Vincennes,  Sieur,  180 
Dewitt,  Colonel  A.  B.f  258 
Diamond  Grove  colony,  Morgan  Co., 

296 

"  Diana,"  river  steamboat,  420 
D'Iberville,  officer  in  Louisiana,  87,  163 
Disasters  to  river  steamboats,  421-424 
"Dispatch,"  Mississippi  steamboat,  418 
"  Di  Vernon,"  river  steamboat,  426 
Dixon,  Trading-post  near,  126;  on  mail 
route,   128;  Dixon 's  Ferry  on  Rock 
River,  255,    297;    fort    at,    257;    in 
Black  Hawk's  War,  259,  261 
Dodge,  General,  of  Wisconsin,  263 
Dodge's  Rangers,  265,  269 
Donaldson,  Colonel,  378 
Donnes,  100 

Douay,  Father,  46,  85,  92 
Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  344,  436 
Douglass  County,  301,  302 
D'Outrclean,  Father,  97 
Doyle,  John,  early  settler,  210,  398 
Doyle,  Major  Thomas,  American  com- 
mander at  Fort  Massac,  186 
Doza  Creek,  Fort  on,  188 
Draper,  D.,  early  settler,  218 
Driscoll  family  outlawed,  409 
Du  Bois,  lead-miner,  166 


ELI 

Du  Buisson,  Commandant  at    Detroit, 

144 

"  Dubuque,"  Disaster  to  the,  422,  423 
Dubuque,  Iowa,  Colony  opposite,  162; 

mines  near,  164 

—  Julicn,  166-168 
Duels,  333-344 

Du  Gay,  Le  Picard,  Hennepin's  com- 
panion, 60,  91 

Du  Lhut,  Daniel  Greysolon,  84,  91 

Dulignon,  Jean,  of  La  Salle's  company, 
68 

Duncan,  Governor,  432,  433 

Dunlap, .Governor  Bond's  second 

in  duel,  334 

Dunleith,  Lead  mines  near,  166,  168; 
railroad  built  at,  439 

Du  Page  County,  Fort  in,  190 

Duralde,  Grant  of  land  to,  166 

Durantaye,  M.  de  la,  82-84,  IO7»  *74» 
177 

Dutch  Hill,  St.  Clair  County,  347 

—  Hollow,  St.  Clair  Co.,  347 
Dutton's  Mound,  445 

EAST   ST.    Louis,    Relics   of   Mound- 
builders  found  in,  22 
"  Eclipse,"  river  steamboat,  419 
Eddy,  Henry,  Shawneetown,  443,  445 
Edgar  County,  Trail  across,  122;  Hop- 
kins's  march  across,  127;  conference 
with  Pontiac  in,  288;  settlers  in,  296; 
outlaws  in,  408 

—  John,  of  Kaskaskia,  135,  292;  Mrs. 
John  Edgar,  374,  376,  377 

"  Edward  Bates,"  river  steamer,  426 
Edwards  County,  125,  346,  347 

—  Creek,  350 

—  Governor,   126,   190,  222,  241,  294, 

313.  3*4,  321.  381-383.  385 
Edwardsville,  Madison  Co.,   126,   188, 

189,  223,  241,  293,  301,  395 
"  Effa  Afton,"  river  steamboat,  426 
EfTingham  County,  Trail  across,  iaa; 

settlement  in,  294 
Eleturno,  Indian  chief,  151 
Elizabeth,  167,  264,  345 
Elizabcthtown,  447 


466 


INDEX 


ELK 

Elkhart  Grove,  Kickapoo  village  at, 
35,  208 

Elkhorn,  on  Kaskaskia-Detroit  trail,  122 

Elkin,  W.  F.,  representative  from  San- 
gamon  Co.,  313 

Embarras  River  crossed  by  Kaskaskia- 
Detroit  trail,  122;  Clark's  march 
across,  125,  199 

"Emerald  Mound,"  22 

Engages,  100 

English  in  Illinois  country,  36,  38,  150, 
154,  158,  159,  181,  183,  196,  197,  240, 

251-253 

"Enterprise,"  fourth  steamboat,  417 
Episcopal  Church  in  Illinois  country, 

398 

Equality,  Block-house  on  site  of,  188 
Ernst,  Ferdinand,  of  Vandalia,  347 
"Expositor,"  Nauvoo,  274,  452 
"  Express,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 

FAERJFIELD,  Clark  passed  near,  124 
"  Falcon,"  river  steamer,  427 
Farmer,  Major  Robert,  184 
Fayette  County,  295;  county  offices  in 

old  Statehouse,  312 
Fayetteville,  242 

Fegeret,  Rene",  early  colonist,  135 
Ferguson,  Thomas,  of  Johnson  Co.,  304 
Ferrel,  John,  216 
Fever    (Galena)  River,   162-164,  166- 

171,  297 

Fike,  Nathan,  second  in  duel,  335,  336 
Finley,  John  E.,  Presbyterian  preacher, 

397 

First  locomotive  in  Mississippi  Valley, 
433;  in  Chicago,  438 

—  school,  398 

—  teacher  in  State,  Doyle,  210 
Fisher,  George,  Randolph  Co.,  304,  305 
Fitheon,  Captain,  of  the  "  Boreas,"  426 
Flannery,  James,  214 

Flat-boats,  no 

"  Flatheads,"  412 

Fletcher,  Job,  senator  from  Sangamon 

Co.,  313 
Floods  on  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio 

Rivers,  428,  429 


FOS 

Flower,  George,  founder  of  Albion,  Ed- 
wards Co.,  346 

Ford  County,  Hopkins' s  march  across, 
127 

—  Governor,  136,  139,  244,  273,  276, 
277, 279,  298,  299,  310,  360-362,  379, 
382,  407,  435 

—  outlaws,  446 

Forsyth,  Major  Thomas,  171 

Forsythe,  Thomas,  Indian  Agent  at 
Peoria,  238 

Forts,  La  Salle's,  55,  59,  60,  68;  through- 
out Illinois  country,  174-190;  see  be- 
low 

Fort  Armstrong,  126,  188,  255,  257,  258 

—  Beags,  Will  County,  190 

—  Chartres,  32,  122,  138,  141,  146,  158, 
175,  178-184,  189,  333,  428,  449-45 * 

—  Clark,  188,  244,  296,  454 

—  Clark-Wabash  trail,  127 

—  Crawford,  266 

—  Crevecceur,  59-62,  65,  71,  92,  175, 
454-456 

—  Dearborn,  126,   174,   187,  229,  255; 
massacre,  38,  225-239 

—  Edwards,  452 

—  Gage,  187,  188,  194,  306,  451 

—  Gray,  Kane  County,  190 

—  Hamilton,  Stephenson  County,  190 

—  Johnson,  452 

—  Lamotte,  near  Vincennes,  Ind.,  242, 

—  Massac,  96,  131,  161,  184-187,  333, 
447,  448 

—  Miami,  57,  62,  67,  147,  151;  see  also 
St.  Joseph  River,  Fort  on 

—  Paine,  Du  Page  County,  190 

—  Patrick  Henry  (Fort  Sackville),  206 

—  Russell,  126 

—  Sackville,  Vincennes,  Ind.,  197,  203- 
206 

—  St.  Louis    (Starved   Rock),  31,    32, 
68,  72,  81-87,  Il6»  I29»  134,  i35»  !75- 
178,  453 

—  Waeyn     Ind.,   French  attack  near, 
157 ;  destination  of  Fort  Dearborn  gar- 
rison, 229-231 

Foster, ,  judge  of  Supreme  Court. 

362 


INDEX 


467 


FOX 

Fox  Indians,  29, 31,  34,  36, 37,  1 19, 144- 
148 

—  River,   Fox  Nation's   last  stand  on 
the,  146 

—  River,  bayou  of  Wabash,  346,  347 
Franklin  County,  Fort  in,  188 
Franquelin's  map  of    Illinois  country, 

107,  144 

Frazer,  Lieutenant,  early  English  set- 
tler, 287 

French,  Governor,  408,  435 

—  in  Illinois  country:    French  explorers 
— Marquette,  Joliet,  La  Salle,  Tonty, 
the  Friars,  41-101;  voyageurs  along 
the   rivers,   102-114;    French   settle- 
ments, 129-143;   French   forts,  174- 
190;  French  colony,  the  Icarian,  35 }- 
358 

Friars  among  Indians,  88-101,  103,  107 
Frontenac,  Governor,  68,  75,  101 
Fry,  Colonel  Jacob,  258 
Fulton  County,  Howard's  march  across, 

127;   settlers  in,  296 
"  Fulton,"  river  steamer,  426 
Funk's  Grove,  McLean  Co.,  296 

GAGE,  General,  Commander  at  Boston, 

IS9 

Gagnon,  Father,  Jesuit  friar,  93 
Gaines,  General,  257 
Galena,  128,  162,   168,  170,   171,    190, 

257.  263,  336 
Galena  (Fever)  River,  162-164, 166, 167, 

169-171 

Galcsburg,  Knox  Co.,  Stations  of  under- 
ground railway  in,  329;  Knox  College 

founded,  399 
Gallagher,    ,     tried    for   death  of 

Joseph  Smith,  278 
Galland,  Dr   Isaac,  271 
Gallatin  County,  Salt-production  in,  24; 

settlements  in,  222;  organized, 294, 304 
Garrison,  James,  early  immigrant,  209, 

215.  290 

"  General  Pike,"  295,  418,  419 
Geneseo,  Henry  Co.,  120,  345 
Germain  family,  settlers  in  St.  Clair  Co., 

347 


HAL 
Gibault,     Father     Pierre, 

priest,  196 

Gillcspie,  Joseph,  of  Alton,  436 
Girty.  ,   Indian    Agent   at    Rock 

Island,  240 

—  Mike,  leader  of  Pottawattomies,  263 
Godfrey,  Gilman   &  Company's  ware- 
house, Love  joy's  press  in,  331,  332 

Golconda,  447 

Gordon,  Captain  Henry,  165 

Goring's  Fort,  Raskaskia  River,  188 

Goshen  settlements,  Madison  Co.,  293 

Gould,  Captain,  of  the  "  Knicker- 
bocker," 426 

of  the  "Shepherdess,"  423,  425, 

427 

Grammar,  John,  of  Johnson  Co.,  304- 
306 

Grand  Tower,  on  the  Mississippi,  403 

Gravier,  Father  James,  or  Jacques,  88, 
93,  94,  130 

Gray,  Captain,  of  the  "  Gypsy,"  426 

Grease  Bay,  142 

Great  Calumet  River,  62 

"  Great  Comet  of  1680,"  65 

Great  Meadows,  French  and  Indian 
War,  183 

Green  Plains,  279 

—  River,  Sauk  trail  followed,  1 20 
Greene  County,  295,  347 
Greenup,  William  C.,  306,  309 
Greenville,  Fort  near,  245 

"  Griffin,"  The,  55,  57,  61,  62,  71 
Griswold,  George,  New  York,  440 
Groseilliers  mentioned  lead  mines,  162 
Grover,  Wm.  N.,  tried  for  death  of  Jos- 
eph Smith,  278 
Guymoneau,  Father,  97 
Guyon,  Michel,  early  colonist,  135 
"  Gypsy,"  river  steamer,  426 

HACKER, ,  member  of  legislature, 

337 

Hackle  ton,  Major,  261 
Hageur,  Frangois,  early  colonist,  134 
Haille,  Jesse,  Methodist  preacher,  395 
Halfpenny,  ,  early  school-teacher, 

398 


468 


INDEX 


HAL 
Hall,  Captain,  of  the  "Mechanic,"  422 

—  William,  Two  daughters  of,  263 
Hamelin,  of  Cahokia,  155 
Hamilton  County,  295 

—  General,  officer  at  Detroit,  197,  200, 
203-205 

—  W.  S.,  son  of  Alexander  Hamilton, 

315 

Hancock  County,  Trail  across,  121; 
Howard's  march  across,  127;  Mor- 
mon rising  in,  271-286 

Hanson,  Nicholas,  of  Pike  Co.,  325 

Hardin  County,  345,  446 

—  General,  279,  280 
Harmar,  General,  291 
Harper's  Magazine,  356 
Harrington,  William,  219 

Harris,    Captain   Scribe,  of   the    "  Joe 

Daviess,"  426 
Smith,  of  the   "  Pizarro,"  426 

—  Major  Thomas  L.,  341,  342 
Harrison,  Governor,  170,  222,  255,  323 
Harrisonville,  210 

Harrod,  Captain  William,  with  Clark, 

192 

Haven,  Franklin,  Boston,  440 
"  Hawkeye  State,"  river  steamboat,  419 
Heald,  Captain  Nathan,  227,  229-232, 

236,  238;  Mrs.  Heald,  231,  235,  236, 

238 

Hedine, ,  of  Bishop  Hill  colony,  348 

Helm,  Captain,  197,  205 

—  Lieutenant  Linus  T.,    227,  236-238; 
Mrs.  Helm,  227,  235-238 

Helms,  Captain  Leonard,  with  Clark, 
192 

Hempstead,  in  Zachary  Taylor's  com- 
mand, 252 

Henderson  County,  Settlement  in,  296 

Hennepin,  Father,  29,  56,  58,  60,  61,  88, 
91,  162,  455 

Hennepin,  Fort  at,  257 

Henry,  Dr.  A.  G.,  341,  342 

"Henry  Bry,"  river  steamboat,  424 

—  County,  Indians  in,  30;   crossed  by 
Sauk  trail,  120,  communities  in,  345 

—  General,  265-269 

— .Major  James  D.,  258 


ILL 

Henry, ,  with  Captain  Helm,  atVin- 

cennes,  196 

Henryville,  Lawrence  Co.,  125 
Herndon,  A.  G.,  senator  from  Sanga- 

mon  Co.,  313 
Higgins,  Tom,  fight  with  Indians,  245- 

248;  duel,  336 

Hill's  Fort,  Shoal  Creek,  188 
Hillsboro,  Mass-meeting  at,  434 
Hillsborough,  Lord,  159 
"  Historical  Transactions,"  393 
"  History  of  Early  Illinois,"  335 
"History  of  Illinois,"  305 
"History  of  St.  Louis,"  Scharf,  427 
Hobart,  C.,  Schuyler  Co.,  296 
Holder-man's  Grove,  Settlement  at,  255 
Holmes,  Lieutenant,  268 
Hope,  Dr.,   in    Lincoln-Shields    affair, 

339;  fought  Dr  Price,  340 
Hopkins,  General,  127,  240,  241 
Houston  family  killed  by  Indians,  242 
Howard's,    General,    expedition,     127, 

243-248,  454 

Howe,  Henry,  37I~373.  39°- 39* 
Hubbard,  Adolphus  F.,  383,  384 
Hubbard's  trading-post,  Iroquois  Coun- 
ty, 190 
Huff,  Mrs.,  and  child  killed  near  Little 

Village,  216 

—  Mr.,  killed  near  Kaskaskia,  220 
Hull,  Captain,  early  settler,  218 

—  General,  229 

Hunault,  of  La  Salle's  company,  61,  63, 

64,  68 
Hurlbut,  Rev.,  first  abolition  society  in 

State  met  in  his  house,  330 

"ICAMA,"  Etienne  Cabet,  357 

Icarian    colony,  Nauvoo,  347,  354-358 

"  Icelander,"  ferry-boat,  424 

Illinois  — 

Mound-builders  in,  15-26;  Indians  in, 
27-87;  La  Salle  in,  31-101;  Tonty  in, 
70-87;  friars  in,  88-101;  water-ways 
in  and  bordering  the  State,  102-114; 
trails  made  by  Indians  and  early  set- 
tlers, 115-128;  French  settlements  in 
southern  part  of  State,  129-143;  Span- 


INDEX 


469 


ILL 

Illinois  (Continued) 
ish  invasion  of,  150-162;  lead  mines, 
162-173;  forts  and  trading-posts,  174- 
190;  pioneers  and  border  warfare,  207- 
222;  in  War  of  1812,  240-25  3;  in  Black 
Hawk's  War,  254-270;  Mormons  in, 
271-286;  American  settlers,  287-302; 
location  of  capital  and  erection  of 
Statehouse,  303-317;  slavery  struggle 
"*•  3l8~332;  duels  fought  in,  333-344; 
religious  and  industrial  colonies,  345- 
358;  border  customs,  350-374;  individ- 
uals of  note,  374-387;  religious  devel- 
opment, 388-399;  desperadoes,  400- 
414;  served  by  river  steamboats,  414- 
429;  railroads  in  State,  430-442; 
places  of  historic  interest,  443-457 

Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  435,  438 

—  Central  Railroad,  437,  438 

—  College,  Jacksonville,  399 

"  Illinois  Emigrant,"  The,  445 

"  Illinois  Historical  Transactions,"  144 

"  Illinois,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 

—  Indians  (Illini),    29-33,  44»  4S>  4^> 
58,  59,  63-65,  72-78,  81 

'Illinois,"    Mississippi  River   steamer, 
426 

—  Rangers,  in  Rector's  fight,  248-251 

—  River,  19,  23,  45,  58, 81,  105,  107,  174, 
188,  297 

"  Illinois  Sketches,"  150 

Illinoistown,  436 

Illiopolis  (geographical  centre),  313 

Immaculate    Conception,    Marquette's 
mission,  52,  93 

Indian  Creek,  Settlements  along,  255 

Indians  — 

Tribes  occupying  Illinois  country, 
27-40;  in  time  of  La  Salle  and  Tonty, 
41-201;  the  influence  of  the  friars; 
88-101;  trails  crossing  Illinois  coun- 
try, 115-128;  extermination  of  Fox 
Nation,  144-149;  attacks  on  settlers, 
207-222,  240-253;  attack  on  garrison 
of  Fort  Dearborn,  223-239;  Black 
Hawk's  War,  254-270 

Ingersoll,  Robert  G.,  445 

"  lone,"  river  steamer,  427 


KAN 

"  Irene,"  river  steamer,  437 

Iroquois  County,  Trading-post  in,  190 

—  Indians,  30,  31,  37,  64-66,  72-77,  83, 
US 

JACKSON  County,  Settlements  in,  aaa 

—  George  E.,  168 
Jacksonville,  313,  399 

James,  Major,  in  Black  Hawk's  War, 

«• 

"James  Monroe,"  Mississippi  steam- 
boat, 418 

Jansen  (Johnson),  Eric,  founder  of  Bish- 
op Hill  community,  347-353 

Jarrot  vs.  Jarrot,  case  in  Illinois  Su- 
preme Court,  320 

Jefferson  County,  Clark's  march  across 
124 

"  Jerks,  The,"  392 

Jesuits  on  the  frontier,  88,  89,  93-96,  98- 
101,  130-132,  135,  141,  178 

"  J.  M.  White,"  river  steamboat,  419 

Jo  Daviess  County  crossed  by  Kellogg's 
trail,  127;  lead-miners  in,  142;  fort  in. 
190 

"  Joe  Daviess,"  river  steamer,  426 

Johnson,  see  Jansen,  Eric 

—  County,  Settlements  in,  222;  organ- 
ized, 294,  304 

—  Colonel  James,  170-172 

Jolict,  Louis,  42-49,  1 06,  109,  121 ;  his 
maps,  107 

—  Sauk  trail  passed  near,  120 
Jones,  John  Rice,  duel  with  Shadrach 

Bond,  334,  379-381 

—  William,  of  Madison  Co.,  304,  305 
Jones's  Fort,  Shoal  Creek,  188,  293 
Jourdan  settlement,  Franklin  County, 

1 88 
Journey,  or  johnny,  cake,  an 

—  Lieutenant,  245,  246 
Journey's  Fort,  Aviston,  188 
Juchereau's  expedition,  95,  185 
Judy,  Samuel,  219,  304,  305 

—  settlement,  Madison  Co.,  293 

KANE,  Colonel,  283,  284 

—  County,  fort,  190 


INDEX 


KAN 

Kane,  ,   moved  State  archives  to 

Vandalia,  312 

—  Elias  Kent,  386 

Kaskaskk  (old  town  on  Kaskaskia 
River),  95,  129,  133,  135,  141,  146, 
157-160,  178,  187,  193-196,  304,  306, 
309,  311,  363,  428,  451,  452;  (village 
of  Illinois  Indians  on  Illinois  River) 
29,  48,  58,  96,  130-132;  modern  town 
of  Kaskaskia,  in  Randolph  Co.,  94 

Detroit  trail,  121,  122,  301 

—  Indians,  29,  32,  33,  121,  130 
Keene's  Station,  124 
Kekionga,  on  Wabash  River,  157 
Kellogg,  O.  W.,  Stephenson  Co.,  297 

—  "  Old  Man,"  at  Kellogg's  Grove,  255, 
257,   264,   297 

Kellogg's  trail,  127,  172,  254,  297 
Kelly  family,  settlers  on  Spring  Creek 

(Springfield),  314,  315 
Kendall   County,   Sauk  trail  through, 

120;   site   of  Maramech,    144,    457; 

settlers  in,  297 

Keokuk,  Chief  of  the  Sacs,  255,  270 
Kereben,  Father,  97 
Kickapoo  Creek,  Early  name  of,  107; 

Indian  village  on,  35,  208 

—  Indians,  30,  31,  34,  35,  76,  207,  208 
Kidd,  Robert,  early  immigrant,  209,  290 
Kimball,  Elder  Heber,  453 

"King's  Highway,  The,"  St. Philippe, 

448 

Kingsbury,  Lieutenant,  268 
Kinney,  Andrew,  218 

—  William,  Baptist  preacher,  360 
Kinzie,  John,  227,  232,  238,  293 
Kirkpatrick,  Thomas,  Madison  Co.,  304 
Kirtland,    Ohio,   first   Mormon  settle- 
ment, 272 

Kishwaukee  trail,  145 
Kiskwaukee  River,  260 
"  Knickerbocker,"  river  steamer,  426 
Knox  College,  Galesburg,  399 

—  County,   Trail    across,    121;    trad- 
ing post  in,    190;    settlers    in,    296; 
underground  rail  way,  329;  outlaws  in, 
401 

Koshkonong  Lake,  Wis.,  262,  265 


LEA 

LA  BALME,  and  his  expedition,  157,  158 
La  Barre,  Governor  of  Canada,  68,  82, 

83.  177 

La  Belle  Riviere  (Ohio  River),  25,  105, 
187,  445 

La  Chapelle,  62,  71 

La  Chesnaye,  le  Sieur,  early  colonist,  135 

Laclede  Liguest,  Pierre,  183 

"  Lady  Jackson,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 

La  Fayette,  General,  accident  on  steam- 
boat, 422;  entertained  at  Shawnee- 
town,  444;  at  Kaskaskia,  451 

Lafayette,  Ind.,  142 

La  Forest,  Francois  de,  63,  67,  83-85, 

135.  177 

La  Grange,  Henry  Co.,  345 
Lainglois,  founder  of  Prairie  du  Rocher, 

179 
Lake  County,  Indians  in,  30,  55 

—  of  the  Illinois  (Lake  Michigan),  49 
La  Loup,   Mohecan  Indian,  with  La 

Salle,  57,  61,  63,  64 

Lambkins,  Jephtha,  convicted  of  kid- 
napping slaves,  322 

Land  speculation,  368-370 

Lane,  General  J.  H.,  344 

Langwell,  Tim,  Colonel  of  militia,  368 

L'Anse  de  la  Graisse,  142 

Laport,  le  Sieur,  early  colonist,  135 

La  Potherie,  70 

Largilier,  Father,  97 

La  Salle,  255,  438 

—  Cavelier  de,  31,  54-7°.  83,  84,  101, 
106,  174,  175,  177,  455 

—  County,  Indians  in,  51;  Sauk  trail 
through,  120;  settlements  in,  297 

—  Nicholas  de,  68 

La     Sallier's    trading-post,     on    Rock 

River,  126,  190,  297 
Latter-Day  Saints,  see  Mormons 
La  Violette,  of  La  Salle's  company,  61, 

68 

Law,  William,  of  Nauvoo,  275 
Lawlessness  on  the  border,  400-413 
Lawrence  County,  125,  295 
Lawrenceville,    125;    site  of,    on    first 

mail  route,  127 
Lead-miners,  142,  162-173 


INDEX 


471 


LEA 

Leathers,  T.  P.,  of  the  "  Natchez,"  420 
Lebanon,  Fort  in  vicinity  of,  188;  Mc- 

Kendree  College  founded,  399 
Le  Blanc,  63,  71 
Le  Boullenger,  Father,  97 
Le  Clerc,  Father,  92 
Le  Corate,  Mme.,  156,  374-376 
Lee  and  Ogle  Counties,  Trading-post 

on  line  between,  126;  crossed  by  Kcl- 

logg's  trail,  127;   fort  in  Lee  County, 

190;  settlers  in,  297 

—  house,  Chicago,  227 
Legras,  Colonel  J.  M.  P.,  291 
Le  Guis,  M.,  164 

Leland  Hotel,  Springfield,  316 
Leman,  James,  early  settler,  210 
Lemon,  James,  Monroe  County,  209 
Lena,  Indian  attack  near,  264 
Le  Neuf,  Marie  Joseph,  early  colonist, 

135 
Le  P6  (now  Peoria),  135,  142,  152,  160, 

454 

L'EspeYance,  Tonty's  servant,  71,  72 
Le  Sueur,  Commandant  at  Chequame- 

gon  Bay,  162,  163 
Le  Vasseur,  Louis,  early  colonist,  134 

—  Pierre,  early  colonist,  135 
Lewiston  trail  across  Rock  County,  172, 

297 

Lillard,  Joseph,  preacher,  394 
Lima,  Mormon  houses  burned,  279 
Lincoln,  126 

—  Abraham,  265,  313,  337-340.  S68 
Lippsword,    G.,    settler   in    Emngham 

Co.,  294 
Little  Calumet  River,  62 

—  Fort,  Waukcgan,  174 

—  River,  in  Indiana,  142 

Littleton,  Captain  Mike,  of  the  "  Rosa- 
lie," 426 
Lively  family  killed  by  Indians,  242 

—  Grove,  near  Fayetteville,  242 
Logan,  John  A.,  445 

Loisel,  Madelaine,  450 

Long,  Major,  in  Black  Hawk's  War,  258 

"Long  nine,"  from  Sangamon  Co., 313 

Looking-glass  Prairie,  188 

Lord,  Captain  Hugh,  184 


McC 

Louisiana,  Mo.,  340 
"  Louisiana,"  river  steamboat,  419 
Louvigny,  le  Sicur,  early  colonist,  135 
Lovejoy,  Elijah  P.,  330-332 
Ludlow,  George  W.,  New  York,  440 

MACARTY,  Le  Chevalier,  181,  183,  186 
MacCarty's  company,  with  Clark,  205 
Macoupin  County,  Settlement  of 

294 
Madison  County,  33,  293,  294,  304, 

3M 

Mail  route,  First  in  State,  127 
Maple  Grove,  125 
Maps,  Early,  of  Illinois  country,  107; 

of  Blanchard,   119 
Maramech,  144-149,  457 
Marest,  Father,  36,94,  95,97,  130,  131 
Marion  County,  Trail  across,  122 
Markee  family,  settlers  in  St.  Clair  Co., 

347 
Marquette,  Father,  29,  36, 43-53, 88-90, 

105,  106,  109,  121 
Marshall  County  crossed  by  Kellogg's 

trail,  127 

—  John,  Shawneetown,  443,  444 
Martin,  Matheu,  early  settler,  134 
Mas,  Jean,  of  La  Salle's  company,  68 
Mascoutin  Indians,  36,  37 

Maso, ,  of  La  Salle's  company,  80 

Mason,  Edward  G.,  106,  134,  150,  151, 

154.  156>  IS8*  l6°.  »6»»  45°.  455 
Massac  County,  407,  410-412 

—  Creek,  192 

Massacre  at  Ft.  Dearborn,  38,  225-239 

Matagorda  Bay,  Texas,  La  Salle's  col- 
ony, 69 

Mat  his  and  the  Regulators,  412 

Maxwell,  Father,  priest  of  St.  Gene- 
vieve,  Mo.,  429 

Maybury,  Site  of,  on  first  mail  route,  127 

McCalister,  Captain  of  the  "Illinois," 
426 

McCawley, ,  on  Little  Wabash,  293 

McClure,  Samuel,  214 

McConnel,  Murray,  433 

McCormick,  Andrew,  representative 
from  Sangamon  Co.,  313 


INDEX 


McC 

McCready,   Rev.  James,  Presbyterian 

preacher,  398 

McDonough  County,  127,  296 
McKendree  College,  399 

—  William,  395 

McLean  County,  Settlements  in,  296 

—  house,  Shawneetown,  443 

—  John,  of  Shawneetown,  386 

,  attacked  by  Indians,  242 

McMahon  family,  220,  221 

McNair,  Colonel,  Governor  of  Missouri, 

243 

McRoberts,  Samuel,  386,  387 
Meadow  Indians,  36 
Meason,  or  Mason, ,  outlaw,  402, 

446 

"  Mechanic,"  Disaster  to  the,  421 
Meeker,  Dr.  Moses,  172 
Meillet,  Paulette,  founder  of  Peoria,  156 
Membre,  Zenobe,  56,  67,  68,  71,  78,  79, 

88,  90-92 
Menard  County,  296 

—  Pierre,  135,  304,  305,  309,  371,  451 

—  vs.  Aspasia,   case  in  Missouri   Su- 
preme Court,  320 

Mendon,  Wis.,  Earthworks  near,  19 
Mernet,  Father,  88,  95-97,  131, 185,  447 
Merriman,  Dr.,  Lincoln's  second,  338; 

Butler's     second,     339;     challenged 

Whiteside,  340 
Methodist  Church,  396 
Metropolis,  96,  123,  447 

—  House,  Metropolis  City,  412 
Meucret,  Gilles,  of  La  Salle's  company, 

68 

Meurin,  Father,  Jesuit  friar,  93,  97,  98 
Miami  Indians,  30,  33,  67;  Piankishaw 

branch,   34-36 

Michel,  Jean,  of  La  Salle's  company,  68 
Michigamies,  29,  32 
Michigan  Lake,  Early  name  of,  49,  107 
Michillimackinac,  Marquette  buried  in 

chapel,  53 

Middleton's  Fort,  Kaskaskia  River,  188 
Milan,  Site  of,  37,  120 
Miles,  S.  W.,  site  of  residence  in  Monroe 

County,  219 
Militia  companies  366-368 


MUR 

Mille  Lac,  Wis.,  Hennepin  held  captive 
near,  91 

Miller,  John  S.,  168 

Mills,  Samuel  J.,  Presbyterian  preacher, 
398 

"  Miner,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 

Mississippi  River,  Marquette  and  Joliet 
explored,  42-48;  Hennepin  explored, 
60;  La  Salle  explored,  67,  68;  a  great 
water-way,  105;  early  names  for,  107; 
figured  in  War  of  1812,  240-253; 
in  Black  Hawk's  War,  266-270;  lead 
and  trading  boats  on,  162-173;  settle- 
ments on,  297;  steamboats  on,  414- 
429 

"  Missouri  Republican,"  The,  425 

Missouri  River,  mouth  visited  by  Mar- 
quette, 46;  early  name  of,  107;  fort  at 
mouth  of,  1 88 

Money  in  the  new  country,  370,  371 

"Monks'  Mound,"  21 

Monroe  County,  Mound-builders  in,  19; 
Indians  in,  33;  Renault's  settlement 
in,  164;  land  granted,  179;  New  Design 
settled,  213;  Indian  attacks  in,  216, 
219;  sites  of  old  settlements,  448 

Monroe  House,  St.  Louis,  341 

"  Montauk,"  river  steamer,  427 

Montcharveaux,  Elizabeth,  450 

Montgomery  County,  295 

—  Captain  John,  with  Clark,  192 
Moore,  Enoch,  395 

—  James,  early  immigrant,   209,   290, 
302 

—  John,  killed  by  Indians,  218 
Moreau,  Pierre  (La  Taupine),  50 
Morgan  County,  296 
Mormons,  271-286 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  New  York,  440 
Morrison,  Mrs.  Robert,  374,  377,  378 
Morristown,  Henry  Co.,  345 
Mound-builders,  15-26 
Mount  Carmel,  Second  mail  route  start- 
ed from,  128 

Mount  Vernon,  Ind.,  124,  346 
Muir,  Samuel  C.,  170 
Munson  Township,  Henry  Co.,  401 
Murrell  outlaws,  446 


INDEX 


473 


NAQ 

NAQUIGEN,  Indian  chief,  151 
Natchez  Indians,  80 

—  and  Nashville  Trace,  403 
"Natchez,"  river  steamboat,  420,  421 
Nat  Hill's  Fort,  Doza  Creek,  188 
Nauvoo,   Hancock  Co.,   2712-86,  347, 

354-358.  4°6,  413,  452,  453 
"  Nauvoo  Legion,"  273 
Neal,  David  A.,  Boston,  440 
Neapope,  Black  Hawk's  lieutenant,  267 
Newark,  Settlement  at,  255 
New  Chartres,  448 
New  Design,  Monroe  County,  213,  217, 

290,  292,  448 
New  Harmony,  Ind.,  346 
New  Madrid,  Mo.,  142 
"New  Orleans,"  295,  416,  417 
New  Orleans,  La.,  300 
Newsham, ,  Monroe  County  settler, 

347 

Nicholas,  Captain,  officer  at  Peoria,  243 
Niles,  Mich.,  possible  location  of  fort, 

151 

Northern  Cross  Road,  432,  433,  437 
Northwestern  Territory,  Division  of,  222 

OGDEN,  Frank,  captain  of  "  Vesuvius," 

4i7 
Ogee,  ,  operated  ferry  near  Dixon, 

297 
Ogle,  Benjamin,  215,  218 

—  James,  215 

—  Joseph,  early  settler,  210,  218,  393, 

394 

—  and     Lee    Counties,    Trading-post 
on  line  between,  126;  crossed  by  Kel- 
logg's  trail,  127;  Ogle  Co.,  297;  out- 
laws in,  408 

Oglesby,  Joshua,  of  St.  Clair  Co.,  304, 

3°5 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  Company,  436 

—  River  (La  Belle  Riviere),  25,  46, 105, 
107,  187,  445 

"Old  Cherokee  Fort,"  185 
Old  Man's  Creek,  Ogle  Co.,  261 
Old  Pecan,  Kickapoo  chief,  219,  220 
"Olitippa,"  boat  propelled  by  horse- 
power, 437,  428 


PIN 


Olsen  brothers,  of  Bishop  Hill  com- 
munity, 348,  349,  352 
O' Mel  van  y,  Samuel,  345 
O'Neal,  Joe,  negro  kidnapper,  323 

—  William,  245 
Oregon,  Ogle  Co.,  408 

"  Orion,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 
Osnault,  Philipes,  early  colonist,  135 
"Ottawa,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 
Ottawa,  Site  of,  58;  on  mail  route,  128; 

in  Black  Hawk's  War,  262;  settlers  at, 

297;  steamer  built  at,  427 
Ouatanon  (now  Lafayette),  Ind.,  142 
Ouilmette  house,  Chicago,  227 
Outagamie  Indians,  56 

PACHOT,  Francois,  early  colonist,  134 
Paget,  builder  of  first  water-mills,  1 32 
Parker,  Samuel,  Methodist  preacher, 

395 

Parkersburg,  Richland  Co.,  125 
Parkman,  28,  45,  51,  65,  69,  81,  86,  101 
Pearson,  Judge,  senator,  337 
Pecatonica  River,  263 
Peck,    Rev.   Dr.,   founder   anti-slavery 

societies,  326,  397 

Peesotum,  Pottawattomie  chief,  236 
Pdnicaut,  concerning  lead  mines,  163 
Peoria,  Lake  and  town,  31,  58,  71,  107, 

116,  142,  156,  160,  174,  188,  242,  243, 

257.  293.  296,  313-316.  3i7.  453.455 

—  tribe,  29,  32,  33,  94,  121,  135 
Perkins,  Major,  261 

Perrigo,  J.  A.,  Adams  Co.,  296 

Perrot,  Nicholas,  162,  163 

Perry  County,  Clark's  march  in,  124 

Peru,  255,  427 

Petit,  Jean,  early  colonist,  135 

Phillips,     pro-slavery     candidate     for 

governor,  1822,  325 

Physicians,  Territorial  regulation  of,  308 
Piankishaws,  see  Miami  Indians 
Piggot,  James,   early  settler,    210 
Piggot's  Fort,  290 
Pike  County,  295 

—  Lieutenant  Zcbulon,  185,  186 
Pimiteoui  Lake,  453,  455 

Pinet,  Father  Francis,  93,  95,  130 


474 


INDEX 


PIQ 

Piquenard, ,  of  Icarian  Colony,  356 

Pitman,  Captain,  132,  182,  183 
"Pizarro,"  river  steamer,  426 
Plant,  George  P.,  433 

—  George  W.,  433 

Planter's  House,  St.  Louis,  340,  341 
Plum    River    Fort ,    Indian    skirmish 

at,  265 

Point  au  Sable,  Jean  Baptiste,  161 
Poisset,  early  colonist,  135 
Pontiac,  the  Indian  chief,  32 
Pope  County,  Clark's  trail  across,  123; 

outlaws  in,  407,  410-412 
Pope,  Judge,  of  U.  S.  Circuit  Court,  323 

—  Nathaniel,  308,  310 

Pope's  Bluff,  Kaskaskia  River,  310 
Population  of  State,  212,  222,  292,  295, 

296,  316,  433 

Porter,  John,  early  settler,  218,  219 
Posey,  General,  265 
Post  Wilkins,  447 
Pottawattomie  Indians,  30,  31,  32,  34, 

38,  39,  228 

Pourre,  Don  Eugenio,  151,  154 
Powers,  at  Fort  Massac,  185 
Prairie  du  Long  Creek,  Monroe  Co.,  347 

—  du  Pont,  141,  428 

—  du  Rocher,  133,  141,  179,  364.  449 
Prather,  Mrs.,  of  Tennessee,  323 
Pratt,  O.  C.,  of  Jo  Daviess  Co.,  341,  342 
Preachers,  Border,  388-399 
Presbyterian  Church,  397 

Price,  Dr.,  duel  with  Dr.  Hope,  340 

Princeton,  Bureau  Co.,  Stations  of  un- 
derground railway  in,  329;  entire 
church  migrated  to,  345 

Prophetstown,  Whiteside  Co.,  258,  259, 
297 

Prudhomme,  Pierre,  of  La  Salle's  com- 
pany, 68 

Pugh,  Jonathan  H.,  315 

Pursley,  Mrs.,  rescue  of  Higgins,  248 

QUINCY,  38,  142,  343,  28l 

"  Quincy,"  river  steamer,  426 
Quintin  Mound,  376 

RACES  between  river  steamboats,42o,42i 


RIG 

Radisson  mentioned  mines,  162 

Radom,  124 

Railroads  in  State,  430-442 

Rale,  Father,  93 

Ramsey,  Captain,  officer  at  Camp  Rus- 
sell, 190 

Randolph  County,  33,  122,  124,  222, 
290,  292,  304 

Randolph's  Grove,  McLane  Co.,  296 

Rantoul,  Robert,  Jr.,  Boston,  440 

"  Rapids,"  river  steamer,  426 

Rasles,  Father,  30 

Read,  Jacob,  captain  of  the  "  Zebulon 
M.  Pike,"  418 

Reagan  family  killed  near  Alton,  244 

Re"collet  friars,  56,  88-90,  92,  93,  99, 
101,  178 

Rector,  Nelson,  252 

—  Captain  Stephen,  248-251 

—  Thomas,  duel  on  island  opposite  St. 
Louis,  335 

Red  Oak  Grove,  Colony  at,  349 
Reed,  Colonel  John,  184 
Reeves's  Bluff,  Kaskaskia  River,  310 
"Regulators,"  Companies  of  citizens 

organized  as,  406,  407,  409-413 
Renault,  Philippe  Francois  de,  72,  141, 

142,  164,  179,  318,   449 

—  Town  of,  448 

Retrospective  views:  procession  passing 
down  Mississippi  and  Illinois  Rivers, 
111-114;  over  Indian  trails,  117-119, 

122,    123 

Reynolds,  Captain,  of  the  "  Rolla,"  426 

—  Governor,   136,   187,  244,  245,  257, 
258,  265, 300,  335,  343,  362-364,  384, 

385 
Ribourde,  Gabriel  de  la,  56,  71,  75,  76, 

88,  90 

Richards, ,  Mormon  leader,  277,278 

Richland  County,  125 

Riddick, ,  killed  by  Indians,  215 

Rider,  Captain  Samuel,  of  the  "  Olitip- 

pa,"  427 
Ridgon,  Joseph  Smith's  lieutenant,  379, 

278 
Riggs,  Captain,  248-251 

—  Hosea,  394 


INDEX 


475 


RTF 

Ritner,  Lieutenant  Joseph,  367 

Riverin,  early  colonist,  134 

Riviere  a  la  Mine,  163 

"  Robert  E.  Lee,"  river  steamboat,  420, 

43i 

Robert  Owen  communists,  346 
Rocheblave,  M.,  188,  195 
Rockford,  18 
Rock  Island,  city  and  island,  38,  116, 

126,  142,  248,  297,  413,  425 

—  County,  255 

Rock  River,  18,  105,  174,  253,  256-270, 

453 

Rogers,  Lieutenant,  with  Clark,  198 

"  Rolla,"  river  steamer,  426 

Ronan,  Ensign,  225,  227 

Roosevelt,  Captain,  of  the  "  New  Or- 
leans," 416, 417 

Root,  of  Bishop  Hill  colony,  352,  353 

"  Rosalie,"  river  steamer,  426 

Royal  India  Company  in  Illinois,  164 

"  Ruined  Castles,  The,"  43 

Rutherford,  Larkin,  early  immigrant, 
209,  290 

Ryan,  J.,  early  settler,  218 

SAC  Indians,  29,  31,  34,  36,  37,  119 
Sack,  Andrew,  pilot  of  the  "  New  Or- 
leans,"   416 
St.  Ange  de  Belle  Reve,  146-148,  166, 

179,  180,  183-185 

St.  Anne  de  Fort  Chartres,  179,  450 
St  Castin,  le  Sieur,  early  colonist,  135 
St  Charles  on  mail  route,  128 
St.  Clair,  Captain  Benoist  de,  181 

—  County,  Mound  in,  22;  Indians  in, 
33;  sheriff  of,  156;    organization  of, 
212,  220,  291,  292,  304;    anti-slavery 
societies  in,  326;  German  settlers  in, 
347;  Steiner's  settlement,  347 

Governor,  212,  290,  292 
— William,  of  Cahokia,  292 
St.  Cosme  describes  painted  rocks  near 

Alton,  46 

"  St.  Croix,"  river  steamer,  426 
"St.  Gamo  Kedentry,"  314 
St.  Gcnevievc,  Mo.,  142,  288,  429 
St.  Ignacc,  Marquette  buried  at,  53 


SHA 

St.  Joseph  River,  Early  name  of,  107 
,  Fort  on,  57,  66,   78,   147,   151, 

IS3-IS6 
St.  Louis,  Missouri,  150,  151,  160,  170, 

183,  288,  418,  424,  425,  427 

—  and  Keokuk  Packet  Company,  426 
"  St.  Peter,"  river  steamer,  427 

St. Philippe, Monroe  Co., 1 33, 141, 179,318 
Salem,  on  Kaskaskia-Detroit  trail,  122; 
site  of,  on  first  mail  route,  127;  mass- 
meeting  at,  434 
Salines,  Illinois,  18,  445 
Salt,  Use  of,  by  aborigines,  17,  24 

—  Creek    crossed    by  Kaskaskia-De- 
troit trail,  122 

Sanford,  John  F.  A.,  New  York,  440 
"Sangamo,"  Meaning  of  Indian  word, 

314;  proposed  as  county  seat,  315 
"Sangamo  Journal,"  The,  337-339 
Sangamon  County  295,  296,  313-316 
Sargcant,  Winthrop,  secretary  to  Gov. 

St.  Clair,  292 
Sauk  trail,  119,  120 
Saunders,  John,  193 
Saussier,  Lieutenant  Jean  B.,  182 
Sauteur  Indians,  37,  38 
Savannah,  on  the  Mississippi,  297 
Scales,  judge  circuit  court,  411 
Scharf  s  "  History  of  St.  Loufs,"  427 
-  "  Sketch  Book,"  425 
Schermerhorn,     J.     F.,     Presbyterian 

preacher,    398 
Schuyler  County,  296 

—  Robert,  New  York,  440 
Scott  settlement,  296 

—  General  Winfield,  265,  270 
Scripps,  John,  Methodist  preacher,  395 
Sebastian,  at  Fort  Massac,  185 
Selden, ,  of  Virginia,  in  Davis-Bis- 

sell  dispute,  343 
Sellers,  Colonel,  445 
Semen,  James  N.,  Sr.,  218 
Seminary  of  Quebec  priests,  95 
Senat,  Father,  88,  97,  180 
Sharon,  White  Co.,  oldest  Presbyterian 

church,  398 
Sharp,  Thomas  C.,  tried  for  death  of 

Joseph  Smith,  278 


476 


INDEX 


SHA 

Shaubena,  Pottawattomie  chief,  259 
Shaw,  Captain  John,  169 

—  John  B.,  325 
Shawnee  Indians,  33,  39 
Shawneetown,  39,  116,  128,  287,  293, 

301,  304,  305,  443-44S 

—  "  Mercury,"  323 
Shelbyville,  439 

"  Shepherdess,"  Wreck  of  the,  423,  424 
Sheridan,  Sauk  trail  passed  near,  120 
Sheve,  Henry  M.,  captain  of  "  Enter- 
prise," 41 7 

Shields,  ,    challenged    Lincoln    to 

fight,  337-340 
Shoal  Creek,  Forts  on,  188;  Indians  on, 

219 
Short,  Jacob,  of  St.  Clair  Co.,  304,  305, 

335.  336 
Short's  "Historical  Transactions,"  393 

—  Rangers,  245 
Shreeve,  Henry,  169 

Shreve,  Captain,  of  the  "  Washington," 

418 

Shull,  Jesse  W.,  170,  190 
Shurtleff  College,  Upper  Alton,  399 
Silver  Creek,  near  Troy,  Fort  on,  188 
Sinclair,  Lieutenant-Governor  Patrick, 

1 66 

Sinsinawa  Creek,  Mound  near,  20;  In- 
dian skirmish  at,  265 
Sioux  tribe,  28 
"  Sketch  Book,"  Scharf,  425 

—  of  Government  for  Illinois,"  159 
Skillet  Fork,  Clark  crossed,  124;  settlers 

on,  293 

Slaves,  141,  179,  318-332 
Smith,   Hyrum,   Mormon  leader,  275- 

278,  453 

—  James,  early  Baptist  preacher,  216, 

217.  393 

—  Joseph,     founder   of   Mormonism, 
272-278,  453 

—  Captain    Orrin,  of  the  "Fulton," 
427 

Smoker,  Captain,  of  the  "Dubuque," 

429 

Snyder,  Dr.  J.  F.,  19,  23-25 
South  Bend,  Ind.,  57,  151,  153 


SWA 
South  Chicago  on  Calumet  River,  155 

—  Edward  Creek,  Colony  on,  349 

—  Ottawa,  Settlement  at,  255 ;  fort  at, 

257 

Southern  Cross  Road,  432 
"  Southerner,"  river  steamboat,  419 
Spanish  Mines,  The,  166 
Spoon  River,  243,  244 
Spring  Bay,  Indian  village  on  site  of, 

30;  destroyed  by  Edwards,  War  of 

1812,  127 

Springfield,  126,  313-317 
"  Springfield  City  Ordinances,"  315 
"  Springfield,"  Illinois  River  boat,    427 
Sprinkle,  Michael,  445 

Stanley, ,  of  Cambridge,  353 

Stark  County,  Trail  across,  121;  settlers 

in, 296 
Starved  Rock  31-33,  68,   72,  81,   116, 

129,  175-178 
Steamboats  on  Ohio  and  Mississippi, 

415-429 

Steiner,  Bernard,  St   Clair  County  set- 
tler, 347 

Stephenson,  Colonel  Benjamin,  308 

—  Captain,  263 

—  County,  127,  190,  297 
Steward,  John  F-,  144,  145,  147,  148 
Stewart,  Dr.,  wounded  in  Rector's  fight, 

251 

Stillman,  Major,  259-262,  265 
Stillman's  Run  (Old  Man's  Creek),  261 
Stirling,  Captain  Thomas,  of  Fort  Pitt, 

184 
Stone,   Dan,   representative  from  San- 

gamon  Co.,   313 

"  Stone-grave  people,"  19,  20,  24 
Stout,  William,  245 
Strawn,  Livingston  Co.,  127 
Stribling,  William,  396 
Stuart,  Alonzo  C.,  duel  at    Belleville, 

335»  336 

Studevant  ,  counterfeiter,  404,  405 

Sturgis,  Jonathan,  New  York,  440 
Superior  Council  of  Quebec,  Records  of, 

134 

Surgeon,  The,  50,  63,  64,  68 
"  Swallow  "  river  steamer,  426 


INDEX 


477 


SWA 

Swayne,  Dr.,  of  Hicco,  Term.,  324 
Sycamore  Creek,  Ogle  Co.,  259 

TAENSAS  Indians,  Village  of  the,  79 
Talbot.  Benjamin,  Gallatin  Co.,  304 

—  Rev.,  Presbyterian  minister,  350 
Tamaroa  Indians,  29,  31-33,  77,  131 
Tamisier, ,  of  La  Salle's  company, 

63,  64 
Taylor,  Major  Zachary,  252,  253,  258 

,  Mormon  leader,  277,  278 

Tayon,  Don  Carlos,  151 

Tecumsch,  170,  185,  244 

"  Tecumseh,"  river  steamboat,  419 

Teissier,  of  La  Salle's  company,  85 

"  Temple  "  mound-builders,  2 1 

Terre  Haute-Fort  Clark  trail,  301 

Thomas,  Abe,  negro  kidnapper,  323,  324 

—  Henry,  on  West  Bureau  Creek.  255 

—  Jesse  B.,  309,  385 

—  Colonel  John,  in  Black  Hawk's  War. 
258,  306 

—  Lieutenant,   report  on    lead    mines, 
172 

Thompson,  Samuel,  Methodist  preach- 
er. 395 

—  Colonel  Samuel  M.,  258 
Threlfall, ,  Monroe  County  settler, 

347 

Throckmorton,  Captain  John,  268.  426 
Thwaites,  Dr.  Reuben  Gold,  162,  165- 

167,    194,  255 
Thwing,  Dr.,  163 

"  Time  and  Tide,"  river  steamer,  427 
Todd,  Colonel  John,  288,  290,  291 

—  Thomas,  218 

Toledo,  Wabash,  and  Western  Rail- 
road, see  Northern  Cross  Road 

Tontine  insurance,  70 

Tonty,  Henri  de,  59-87,  135,  175-178 

Toulon,  Stark  Co.,  Indian  village  on 
site  of,  30 

Trails,  Indian,  27,  115-128 

Trammel,  Philip,  of  Gallatin  Co.,  304, 

3°5 

Treat's  Island,  62 
Trinity  River,  La  Salle  murdered  on, 

69 


WAB 

Troy,  Fort  near,  188 
Turkey  Hill,  near  Belleville,  293 
Turner,  James,  215 
Turney,  James,  attorney-general,  365, 

366 

Twain,  Mark,  445 
Two  Rivers,  243 
"Turtle  Mound,"  Rockford,  18 

UNDERGROUND  railway,  328,  329 
Union  County,  Settlements  in,  222 
Upper  Alton,  Shurtleff  College  founded, 

399 
Utica  meadows,  48,  51,  58,  63,  77,  90 

453 
"  Utility,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 

VALLET, ,  of  Icarian  colony,  356 

Vallis,  John,  215 

Vandalia,  296,  310^-313,  347 

Van  Houten,  Captain,  of  the  "  Adven- 
ture," 423 

Van  Metre,  A.  P.,  170 

— Voorhees,  Surgeon  at  Fort  Dearborn, 
227,  235 

Vermilion  County,  Trail  across,  122; 
Hopkins's  march  across,  127;  settlers 
in,  296 

—  River,  Indian  warfare  on,  73 

"Vesuvius,"  third  steamboat,  417 

Vigo,  Colonel  Francis,  197 

Vincennes  (Ind.),  124,  142,  157, 
197-206,  291,  292 

"  Virginia,"  first  steamboat  on  upper 
Mississippi,  415 

Vivier   Father,  97,  142 

Von  Gauvain,  ,  of  Icarian  colony, 

356 

Voras,  William,  tried  for  death  of  Jo- 
seph Smith,  278 

Voris, ,  debater  in  question  of  State 

capital,  317 

WABANSEE,  Indian  chief,  at  Ft.  Dear- 
born massacre,  236 

Wabash  River,  Early  names  of,  107; 
settlements  on  the  upper,  142;  Clark 
on, 198-203 


INDEX 


WAD 

Waddell,  David,  210,  215 

Walker,  Jesse,  394,  395 

Wannock,  Edwards  Co.,  346 

Ward,  James,  Methodist  preacher,  395 

Warley,  Joseph,  early  settler,  210 

Warren  County,  Trail  across,  121 

—  Major,  stationed  at  Nauvoo,  280 

"  Warrior,"  supply  steamer,  268,   269, 

426 
\Varsaw,  Hancock  Co.,  277,  278,  354, 

452 

Washington  County,  trail  across,  122; 
Clark's  march  through,  124 

—  Grove,  Ogle  Co.,  410 

"  Washington,"  Mississippi  steamboat, 
418 

Water-ways  in  and  leading  to  Illinois, 
102-114 

Watrin,  Father,  97 

Wau-bee-nee-mah,  Indian  chief,  at  Ft. 
Dearborn  massacre,  237 

Waukegan,  Fort  on  site  of,  174 

Wayne,  General  Anthony,  at  Fort  Mas- 
sac,  1 86;  victory  at  Maumee,  292 

—  County,    Clark's  march  across  ,  124 
Weamiamies,  see  Miami  Indians 
Webb,  James  Watson,  his  journey  from 

Fort   Dearborn   to   Fort   Armstrong, 

125,  126 

Wells,   Captain  William  ,  225,    231-236 
Wesley  City,    175,   456 
West  Bureau  Creek,  Settlement  on,  255; 

fort,  257 
Wethersfield,   Henry   Co.,    Stations   of 

underground  railway  in,  329;  founded 

by  commune,  345;  land  speculation, 

36Q 

"White  Cloud,"  river  steamboat,  425 
White  Indians,  tribal  markings,  37 

—  James,  killed  by  Indians,  214 

—  Liberty,  of  Chicago,  227 

—  Manuel,  416 

— Rock  Grove,  Ogle  Co.,  409 
Whitehead,  Robert,  early  settler,  210 
Whiteside  family,    218-221,    244,   252, 

253 
Brig.-Gen.  Samuel,    258-262,     265, 

338'  340,  342 


YAL 

Whiteside's   Station,    Monroe    County, 

220 
Wilburn  (opposite  Peru),  Fort  at,  257, 

265 

Wilkins,  Lieutenant-Colonel  John,  184 
Wilkinson,  James,  185,  186 
Will  County,  Fort  in,  190;  settlers  in, 

297 
Williams,   Captain,   with  Clark,   206 

—  Levi,  tried  for  death  of  Joseph  Smith, 
278 

Williamson  County,  Clark's  trail  across, 

123;  Clark  in,  193 
Willing,  James,  161 
"Willing,"  The,  198 
Wills,  John,  tried  for  the  death  of  Joseph 

Smith,  278 
Wilson,  Alexander,  of  Gallatin  Co.,  304. 

3°5 

—  Joseph  M.,  House  of,  456 

—  Robert  L.,   313 

Winnebago  County,  Mound-builders  in, 

18;  Indians  in  39;  outlaws  in  408 
"  Winnebago,"  Illinois  River  boat,   427 
Winnebago  Indians,  29,  34,  39 
"  Winnebago,"       Mississippi        River 

steamer,  426 
Winnemeg,  or  Catfish,  Indian  chief,  229, 

236 
Winstantly,  Thomas,   Monroe  County 

settler,  347 
Winter, ,  settler  on  Apple     River, 

255 

Wisconsin  Heights,  Battle  of,  266 
"  Wisconsin,"  Illinois  River  boat,  427 
Wisconsin   River,   one   of   the   historic 

water-ways,  105;  Fox  Nation  located 

on,  145 
Wood   River  settlements     near   Alton, 

244,  292 

Worley,  James,  216 
Worthen,  Mr.,  improved  trail,  123 
Worthington,  Captain,  206 
Wright,  Newton  E.,  negro  kidnapper, 

323.  324 
Wyandots,  228 

"  YALE  Band  of  Seven,"  399 


INDEX 


YEL 


Yellow    Bank    settlement,    Henderson 

County,  296 
You,  Pierre,  of  La  Salle's  company,  63, 

64,68 

Young,  Benjamin,  394 
-  Brigham,  279,  453 
—  Joseph,  House  of,  453 


Young, 
242 


479 

ZEN 

killed     near    Carlyle, 


"ZEBULON  M.  PIKE,"  sixth  boat,  417, 

418 
Zenobe,  Pere,  of  La  Salle's  company, 

68,  88 


A     000  761  253     4 


